Pokemon Master: A New Journey
by aayush25
Summary: Ash Ketchum has wanted to become the Pokemon Master all his life. At the age of 10, he and 9 other kids from different regions gets selected to take part in a experiment being conducted by Professor Oak. As a result he gets his starter Pokemon 4 years before he can go on his Pokemon journey. Note: mix between anime and the games.
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

A/N: this is my first Pokemon story. I will try to update it regularly. it is going to be a mix of anime and manga, but a lot different. In this story, trainers get their first Pokemon at the age of 14 so that they can be better prepared for the life of a Pokemon trainer. Ash is going to be a competitive trainer, not some idiot. but he will have to train like every other trainer to become powerful. Ash will not be overpowered, neither will he get any legendary Pokemon. I hope you guys like it. Please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

Prologue

It was a quite morning in the small town of Pallet town. In a small bedroom situated on the first floor of a small 3 bedroom home located in the middle of the town, a young boy with raven black hair and brown hair woke up after a good night sleep. He yawned as he got out of the bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up. It was going to be a special day for him. Today, after finally waiting for practically his whole life, he would finally get his first Pokemon. He will be meeting his best friend, his partner for the first time today, someone who was going to help him achieve his goal of becoming the best Pokemon trainer there ever was or will be.

He was going to become the first Pokemon master in history.

His name was Ash Ketchum and he was a 10 year old young child.

He thought of the last few months as he brushed his teeth. A few years before he was born, children would get their first pokemon at the age of 10 and go on their pokemon journey to challenge the gyms to collect badges so that they could participate in the League tournament held every year. But a lot of those children were usually never aware of the harsh realities of the world. Most of them were not prepared to raise pokemon on their own in the wild, neither were a lot of them aware of the dangers the wild pokemon presented. This usually resulted in either pokemon abandonment or a lot of trainer deaths every year. Finally after centuries of the pokemon league being established, Professor Oak, the most famous pokemon researcher in the world managed to convince the league to set the minimum age requirement for a trainer to be 14 years. It was only this year, nearly 15 years after the new law was published that the famous professor had made a change to it.

6 months ago it was announced that to better study the relationship between young pokemon and their trainers, a total of 10 trainers, all 10 years old, would be selected from around the world and given their starter pokemon 4 years before they could go on their pokemon journey. These 10 trainers would then raise their pokemon in the safe environment of their home till they are turn 14, at which time they would be allowed to go on their pokemon journey. Neither of these trainers would be allowed to catch any other pokemon during these 4 years.

To say that young Ash was ecstatic after hearing this news would be a major understatement. He practically shouted in joy that entire day. Though after he managed to calm down he was told that he would first have to pass a test to qualify for getting his starter pokemon 4 years early. He only had a month to prepare. Though living in the same town as Professor Oak and being the best friend to his grandson Gary Oak was a major help to Ash as it allowed him to study under the famous professor since he was nearly 5 years old. Although he was not as smart as his friend Gary, he knew enough about the pokemon world and its inhabitants to qualify the test. After the test was conducted, the qualified children were interviewed by the regional pokemon professors to select only a few children who were later interviewed by professor Oak himself, before finally 10 children were selected. Being a student of the famous professor Oak allowed Ash and Gary to instantly qualify for the 2 slots among the 10 children right after passing the written test.

And today was finally the day when he would be getting his first pokemon. After bathing and changing his clothes, he went downstairs to the dining room.

"Good morning, mom!" ash greeted his mom who was already sitting at the dining table, reading the newspaper.

Seeing her son brought a smile to the face of the 30 year old single mom. Her name was Delia Ketchum and she loved her son more than anything else in the world. She set the newspaper down and served Ash his breakfast.

"So, excited?" Delia asked her young son.

"Very. I can barely wait to meet my pokemon" ash replied.

"Well, we still have some time before we need to go to professor Oaks pokemon lab to get your pokemon. You finish your breakfast while I finish some kitchen work and then we will go to the lab". Delia said to her son.

"Ok mom! But are you going to open the restaurant?" ash asked his mother.

His mother owned a small restaurant that was just to the side of their home. It was the main source of their income. That and the amount his father sent to them every month. He knew who his father was. His mother had told him about his father very early in his life. He just didn't understand why his father didn't lived with them. According to his mother, she didn't love his father, neither did his father loved her. They had just fooled around with each other when she was young, whatever that meant, and then he was born. She was a pokemon trainer then, although not a very successful one. But after finding out that she was pregnant with him, she had decided to quit her life as a trainer. She had released some of her pokemon in the wild while the remaining still lived in the pokemon ranch that professor Oak owned. His mom and dad had decided that since they didn't love each other and didn't want to marry, his mom would take care of him and he would help her in any way he could.

His father's name was Giovanni, the Viridian City gym leader, the most powerful gym leader in all of Kanto. He had helped his mom to settle down in the Pallet town and then helped her open the restaurant. He usually visited them every other month, so ash knew about his father. On his 10th birthday, after being selected for getting his first pokemon early, his dad had told him that he would be spending every alternate month with him in his Viridian Gym to train his pokemon. He was ecstatic to know this as he knew that he could learn a lot from his dad. Though he didn't want to leave his mom, his dad had told him that he had already cleared everything with his mom and that she didn't have any problem with it.

He finished his breakfast and put the dish in the kitchen for his mom to clean later. Then he waited for his mom to finish her work. He didn't had to wait long before she came back ready to head out.

"Let's go ash" she said.

They both went out through the front gate.

"Mr. Mime! Please take care of the house. We will come back later today" Delia said to the humanoid looking pokemon watering the plants at the front garden of the house.

Mr. Mimes was a humanoid Pokémon. He had a white body and slim arms and legs. The limbs were connected to the body through large pink spheres and they had another one on the middle of their body. Mr. Mimes had five fingers on each of his white hands, and blue feet that curled upward at the tip, similar to traditional shoes. He have a round head with pink cheeks and horn shaped hair, and almost always seems to have a smile on his faces.

As far as Ash knew, Mr. Mime was his mother's starter pokemon given to her by her dad on her 10th birthday. He was also the very first pokemon that Ash saw.

"Bye, Mr. Mime" ash said to the pokemon.

"Mime! Mr. Mime" the pokemon replied in poke-speech.

Leaving the house in the capable hands of Mr. Mime, both ash and Delia started walking towards the professor's lab that was located on the edge of the small town. The lab was located in the pokemon ranch owned by professor Oak. The ranch was where all the pokemon owned by the professor or other trainers sponsored by the professor lived. He knew that his mom's pokemon were also there as he used to play with them when he was small. Now he just went there every other day to meet them. It didn't take them very long to reach the lab. There were a lot of vehicles parked outside the lab, most probably belonging to the parents of the other new trainers.

They were met by a man wearing a white lab coat at the front of the lab.

"Ms. Ketchum/1 it's good to see you here. And you too ash" the man said.

"It's good to see too Adam" Delia replied.

"Please go to the backside of the lab. There are a lot of people here today and there isn't enough space inside the lab for everyone, so the professor decided to arrange everything outside" the now identified Adam said. "All the best Ash".

"Thanks Adam!" Ash said, almost bouncing on his heels, barely able to contain his excitement.

"Calm down Ash! Your pokemon isn't going anywhere. The professor is not going to give away any pokemon till all of the children are there" Delia said to her overexcited son, smiling slightly at her little bundle of energy.

"I know mom! I'm just super excited to meet my first pokemon" ash replied.

They both reached the back of the lab. It was packed with a lot of people. It didn't take them long to notice professor Oak standing near the front of the crowd of people talking with a group of other regional professors. From his memory, ash recognized professor Elm of Johto region, professor Birch from Hoenn and professor Rowan from Sinnoh. There were some other professors also there but ash didn't recognize any other. But he did recognize the person standing to just right of the professor Oak. It was the dragon master Lance Wataru, champion of the Kanto region, one of the best and most powerful, if not the most powerful pokemon trainer in the world. He was everything that Ash wanted to become in his life.

Just as he was about to go running to meet his idol, he heard the voice of his best friend shout from the crowd.

"Hey gramps, look, even Ashy boy is here now! Can we get started please" Gary shouted, coming to stand by Ash's side. Ash scowled at Gary's nickname for him. He hated that name, and no matter what he did, Gary refused to call him anything else.

The professor turned around to see that yes, Ash was indeed here. He then said something to his fellow scientists and moved to the front of the crowd.

"Hello everyone! Thank you for coming here today. My name is Professor Samuel Oak, as some of you may or may not know" professor Oak said. "Today is a very important day for all of us, and it may take some time to do everything, so please have a seat and let's start what we have all gathered here for"

Everyone took a chair and sat down. Gary motioned for ash to follow him back to his table where his mother, father, and his older sister Daisy were already sitting. Ash and his mom greeted them as they took their seats.

"What took you so long Ashy boy? I've been waiting for you to come for ages." Gary said to ash.

Just as ash opened his mouth to reply, professor Oak started speaking.

"Now that everyone is settled, let me introduce you my fellow professors." professor Oak started. "We have here with us today professor Elm from Johto, professor Birch from Hoenn, and professor Rowan from Sinnoh"

The respected professors who were sitting on the chairs behind professor Oak waved their hands as their names were called.

"And I'm sure you all know our Champion Lance Wataru, the dragon master" professor Oak said. Lance stood up from his seat and waved, "hello everyone, I hope all of you are good and as excited for this as I'm"

"Now, congratulations to all of you children. You all have the potential to be the very best and brightest of your generation. The reason we have decided to provide you with your first pokemon years before the set age is that we wish to see how it would affect you and your pokemon if you were allowed to spend some time together before you could go on your journey. In the last few years, the pokemon abandonment rate among the trainers have increased." The professor said.

A lot of people sitting their looked shocked at that bit of news. Ash was sad to hear about that even though he already knew about it. He had seen a lot of abandoned pokemon in the pokemon ranch. He just couldn't understand how someone could abandon their pokemon. Abandoning your pokemon was like abandoning your family. The very concept of abandoning your pokemon, the very same pokemon who you had captured to train, to take care of, was horrifying to Ash.

"When we investigated the reason behind it," the professor spoke again, "we found that since a lot of trainers are better prepared for their journey, they expect more from their pokemon. And when the pokemon don't perform to their expectations, they abandon them. The league asked us, the professors, to find a solution to this problem. After a lot of research, we have concluded that a lack to attachment to the pokemon, a lack of feelings towards them plays the most important role behind pokemon abandonment. So we decided to try an experiment. The 10 of you today will get a pokemon, and then raise them for the next 4 years at your homes before you are allowed to go on your pokemon journey".

Every child present perked at the mention of getting the pokemon. Professor Oak chuckled seeing the children getting excited.

"Well that was the plan at first, but we have decided to change it somewhat" ash was sure that his heart skipped a beat just as the professor said this. He had been looking forward to get his first pokemon practically all his life. Looking around told him that all the other children present were getting nervous.

"Now, now, no need to look so nervous. Don't worry, you will all get your pokemon today, just not directly" professor Oak said.

Now everyone was looking round confused. Well everyone except the professors and the champion.

"We have decided that instead of just providing you with a starter pokemon, we will provide you with a pokemon egg and you will be responsible for hatching it and taking care for the baby pokemon after it hatches. We think it will allow you to bond with your pokemon more easily and it will also teach you a lot about taking care of the pokemon" professor Oak said.

Everyone started chatting excitingly. Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. He would be getting a pokemon egg instead of a pokemon. It was unbelievable. He knew he was extremely to be present here today because not just anyone could a pokemon egg. Pokemon eggs were considered extremely precious in the pokemon world as they contained the baby pokemon and required very good care.

"of course you are not expected to take care of the eggs and then the babies all by yourself" professor Oak elaborated, "you will be provided all the help and the knowledge you will need to take care of the eggs and the baby pokemon. Now for those of you who requested for a particular pokemon as your starter, we have tried to find the eggs of the pokemon of your species. So now, without wasting any more time, I will call your names one by one and you will come to the front to take your pokemon egg."

I don't think I could wait any longer. Looking to the side told me that Gary was just as excited as me. I know he had requested for a Squirtle and knowing that his grandfather was the one arranging all this, he was pretty sure that Gary would get a Squirtle egg. Ash had not requested for any particular pokemon. He loved all the pokemon equally, though he preferred some over others. But he was just happy to finally get a pokemon to call his own, his best friend, and his partner.

"Alakazam!" professor Oak called and a bipedal pokemon appeared to the side of the professor. Ash knew that it was the professors own pokemon. He was one of the most powerful psychic pokemon in the world, having been with the professor for more than 50 years. Ash knew that the professor was a trainer in his young age and had a whole team. He didn't know all of the pokemon that the professor owned but he knew that the professor had a really powerful Dragonite, who lived in the small mountains around the town, a monster for a Charizard, having seen it once some years ago when a new pokemon at the ranch had become angered and started to thrash the habitat. The Charizard had been circling the skies above the pallet town at that time and had taken a ice beam to the face without any damage and then proceeded to defeat the angered pokemon with just a single flamethrower. Other than that the professor also had an Arcanine who was the fastest pokemon ash had ever seen. He was also the most fun loving pokemon and the caretaker of the pokemon of the ranch. But ash also knew that he was just as powerful as any other pokemon that the professor had, having been told by Gary that Arcanine usually went in the mountains to spar with the professor's Dragonite. Ash didn't know about any other pokemon that the professor had but he knew that there were many.

By the time Ash focused his attention back to the professor, 3 children had already gotten their pokemon eggs, present inside an incubator. The professor would call a name, and the person would go the front. Then the Alakazam would teleport the pokemon egg from wherever they were stored to the professor who would tell the person somethings about the pokemon present inside the egg before giving it away.

"Gary Oak" professor Oak called after the last potential trainer returned to his seat.

"well, look closely ashy boy, I'm finally getting the most awesome pokemon and once he is ready to battle, we are going to beat you and your pokemon before becoming the champion" Gary said to ash, standing up and moving to the front before ash could retort.

"Ass" ash muttered scowling at the remark.

"Language ash!" his mom admonished him.

"Don't worry ash! You know how Gary is" Daisy Oak, Gary's older sister and a top pokemon coordinator said to him. "Don't pay him any attention".

Ash knew how Gary was. Even if Gary was his best friend, he couldn't deny that he was also the most arrogant person Ash had ever met.

Everyone clapped when Gary finally received his pokemon egg and returned to his seat carrying it. He held the incubator containing the egg close to his chest and sat down without taking his eyes of the egg. Say what you will about Gary, Ash knew that Gary loved pokemon just as much as ash did.

"Ash Ketchum" professor Oak called. Finally, it was ash's turn. He got up from his seat and started walking towards the professor. Even if he projected calm demeanour, he was a nervous wreck inside. He thought about what pokemon he would get, if he would be a good trainer. But he set his doubts aside and focused on finally meeting his pokemon for the first time, even if he or she was inside the egg.

"Well, ash my boy, it is good to see you here. Since you didn't ask about any particular pokemon, I had to think about what pokemon to provide you with. But I finally settled on one" the professor said to ash and nodded to Alakazam who popped away for a moment then came back just as quickly. The teleport was so fast and smooth that one moment Alakazam was just standing there with his psychic spoons in both hands and the next he had an incubator with a reddish-orange coloured egg floating in front of him. The incubator then floated in front of Ash who placed his hand on the glass of the incubator behind which rested his first pokemon, sleeping peacefully in his egg.

"This is a growlithe egg as far as I can tell. It is last remaining egg from the few that your mother's ninetales laid few months ago. The father of this egg is my own Arcanine. I was expecting the other eggs of its bunch to hatch into little vulpix but they all hatched into growlithe puppies. So I'm expecting it to hatch into a growlithe as well." The professor said to ash who still hadn't taken his hand of the glass pane. He finally took the incubator in his hands when Alakazam moved it towards him.

"Thank you professor" ash finally said to the professor, taking his eyes off the egg and looking to the professor.

"You are welcome my boy" the professor said. "Now, your mom's ninetales is a really strong pokemon, almost on the level of elite four pokemon, and the less we say about my overgrown puppy of a pokemon the better. Your pokemon has the potential to be one of the best one day, so take good care of him and train him well"

"I will professor" ash replied and went back to his seat. His mom and all the others at the table congratulated him but he just couldn't take his eyes of the egg. He couldn't stop thinking of the time when his pokemon would finally hatch and he could meet him or her.

The professor gave another small speech after handing out all the pokemon eggs in which he mainly told them to contact him or any of the other professors if they had any questions or any problem. After that everyone started to leave the lab, going back to their homes.

"See you later ashy boy" Gary called after him as ash was leaving the lab with his mother.

"Bye Gary" ash called back and then left for his home already dreaming about all the things he and his pokemon would do together. Delia just smiled seeing her son clutching the incubator to his chest and smiling happily.

Back at the lab-

After all the children and their families had left, the champion and the professors gathered inside the lab to have a discussion.

"So, who do you think is going to be the best trainer among the children?" professor Elm asked

"I think, Paul, the kid from sinnoh has the potential to be great one day" professor Rowan replied. "I don't think I have seen anyone as determined as that kid for quite some time."

"What about you professor Oak, what do you think?" professor Birch asked.

"I think all the kids has the potential to be great trainers one day" professor Oak replied.

"Now don't be like that." Professor Rowan said, interested in knowing who the older professor thought was going to be the best trainer. "We all know that all of those kids are going to be great trainers. Hell, by the time they start their journey, they will have 1 fully trained pokemon with them. What we want to know is who you think is going to be the best among the children".

"Well, if I had to choose, I would say Ash Ketchum" the professor finally replied after a moment's thought.

"Your other student, the one you teach alongside your grandson?" professor Elm asked

"Yes, the same one" professor Oak said.

"Not your own grandson, professor?" lance asked.

"Gary is a lot like me. I would like to say that I know him better than even he knows himself" professor Oak elaborated. "he is going to be a great pokemon trainer one day, I have no doubt about that but somewhere along his journey he will probably realize that he doesn't like battling pokemon as much as he thought and that he would rather prefer to learn about pokemon instead of fight with them. I had the same realization when I entered my second pokemon league tournament."

"Ok! But why ash?" lance asked again.

"Ash is a special kid. He has a connection with pokemon that I have never seen before." The professor said. "Mark my words Lance, that kid is going to defeat you one day".

The other professors looked shocked at this. Hearing that some kid was going to become a great trainer someday was one thing, but to hear that the same kid was going to defeat the champion one day was another matter.

Lance thought about it for a few moments and then smiled.

"I'll forward to that day professor" lance finally said.

"Now, is there anything else anyone would like to discuss?" professor Oak asked after a moments silence.

Seeing that it was time for a serious discussion, Lance took a disc from his pocket and set it on the table.

"We have identified 3 new Alpha level pokemon in the last 6 months" Lance said.

Thinking about the sensitivity of the matter that was going to be discussed, professor Oak called his Alakazam, who appeared by his side immediately.

"My old friend, would you please seal this room, we are going to discuss some information about Alpha level pokemon" professor Oak asked his trusted companion.

" **Of course, Samuel**!" the professor heard Alakazam's voice in his head. Saying this the pokemon vanished and the room glowed blue for a moment signifying the use of psychic energy.

***********************************************************8


	2. Chapter 2 - Baby Steps

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon

Chapter 1 – Baby Steps

When he first brought the Pokémon egg to his home, ash just sat in his room and stared at it, all the while dreaming about the day the egg would hatch. It was his mom who finally got him out of his excitement and told him that there were other things that he needed to do. His mom told him that he needed to learn about properly taking care of the egg. Ash didn't now that he had to do anything regarding the egg. He thought that the egg would remain in the incubator till it was ready to hatch. It was his mother who told him that although the egg would hatch even if it was left inside the incubator, if he took special care of it, it would hatch in a very strong and healthy baby Pokémon. She told him that the egg requires heat to remain warm and the incubator provides it with artificial heat. So it was better if the egg was placed in front of the fireplace for a few hours every day to provide it with a better source of heat. Although she also told him to make sure that not too much heat reached the egg as it could also harm the baby. So ash with the help of his mom laid a few blankets on the ground in front of the fireplace inside his house and then a few pillows on top of them. He then carefully took the egg out of the incubator and then placed it on top of the pillows after making sure that only enough heat reached it from the fireplace to keep it warm. His mother then advised him to go to professor Oak the next day and ask him to give ash some books about taking care of Pokemon eggs.

His dad also called during the day to congratulate him. Though he told him that since it was an egg he got and not an already trainable Pokemon, he wouldn't need to go to his dad's gym. Rather, they would continue the arrangement next year when his Pokemon would be ready to train.

He also got a surprise visit that night in the form of Hestia, his mom's ninetales. Hestia once licked his face in greeting and maybe to give her blessing to him and then just laid with her egg on the pillows all night, all the while caressing the egg with her nine strong and soft tails. Ash sat with her for some time, telling her all about his plans for the future and his dreams. He only got up when his mom told him to go to sleep.

The next morning after putting the egg back in the incubator, ash went to professor Oak's lab with Hestia. Inside the Pokemon ranch, midway to the lab he was met by the professor's Arcanine who gave him a very wet and sloppy welcome. Trailing behind the Arcanine were 5 growlithe puppies who couldn't have been more than 2 months old. From what ash could guess, they were the siblings to his yet unhatched Pokemon. Seeing them running into Hestia after catching sight of her confirmed his guess. From there Hestia left him to spend time with her children who were trying to catch her dangling tails with their barely developed teeth.

That day professor Oak told him and Gary, who was already there with his grandpa, everything he could about taking care of their Pokemon eggs. He also gave both of them some books to read and a bottle of baby Pokemon oil, which he told them to apply on the egg once every day. According to the professor, the oil was used by Pokemon breeders to hatch strong and healthy Pokemon. He also told them to come daily in the morning for their regular classes with him.

That evening ash sat in front of the fireplace with the Pokemon egg in his lap and Hestia by his side, who had also come at almost the exact same time when he had taken the egg out of the incubator. According to his mother, ninetales were one of the most intelligent Pokemon in the world, right there with the Alakazam line even though they weren't psychic Pokemon. Some ninetales were even said to be able to learn psychic to communicate with humans.

Hestia just sat there near her egg while ash gently polished it using the special oil that the professor had provided him with. Ash wasn't sure if he was just imagining it or not, but he could sometimes feel the egg pulse warmly against his hand every few minutes.

For the next month, the same schedule continued. In the morning Ash would go to the professor Oak's lab to study and then spend some time with the Pokemon in the ranch in the afternoon alongside Gary. In the evening, he would take the egg out of the incubator and read his books while seating near it. And at night, he would gently massage the egg with the special oil given to him by the professor. While doing so, he would talk to the Pokemon inside the egg, telling him about himself, his beliefs, his goals, all the things he planned to do with him. According to the books he had read, talking to the Pokemon egg would make the Pokemon like him more when it hatched as it could hear ash's voice when he talked to him. Hestia would also come daily in the evening and stay all night with the egg. She usually left in the morning after having breakfast.

The most noticeable thing to happen during that time was that in the last week of the month, Gary's Pokemon egg hatched into a healthy little Squirtle. According to professor Oak, the squirtle was 2 inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than what was average for its species. Gary spent that entire week at home, taking care of his Squirtle. Ash went to Gary's home to congratulate him 2 days after Squirtle hatched. From what ash could see, Squirtle was really tiny, maybe the tiniest Pokemon he had ever seen. He couldn't even imagine that the same Pokemon would someday grow up to become a fearsome Blastoise. The whole time ash was there, Gary bragged about how awesome his Squirtle was. Ash was really jealous that Gary's Pokemon had hatched before his but he was also happy for his friend.

But ash's jealousy left him soon during the first week of 2nd month after getting the egg, when it started to shine while he was polishing it. The jealousy soon turned to excitement. But it didn't hatch immediately. The egg took another 2 weeks to hatch. And didn't it surprise everyone when it hatched.

The professor was there that day along with his Arcanine and Hestia both. According to the professor, his Alakazam had told him that there was a very good chance that the egg would hatch that evening. And his Arcanine just wanted to be there when another one of its children hatched. Soon after while ash was polishing the egg it started to shine brightly. The brightness got so much that ash had to avert his eyes. When the brightness finally died down and ash turned his eyes back to his lap, he was really surprised, because instead of a growlithe pup that he was expecting to see, there was a really small, quadruped, fox-like Pokemon in his lap. It had a reddish-brown pelt, brown, pupil-less eyes, large, pointed ears with dark brown insides, and a single white tail with curled tip. There was a vulpix in his lap who was looking at him with her small round eyes. The vulpix also had curled locks of orange fur with bangs on top of its head. From what he could see, Vulpix had a cream underbelly, and brown feet with lighter brown paw pads. But his surprise soon gave way to joy and happiness. He picked the vulpix in his arms and held her close to his chest. Both Arcanine and ninetales soon came to stand beside him and started to lick the baby Pokemon. Seeing that both its parents were here, ash went to set the Pokemon down on the pillows but vulpix started to whine, so ash held her close to his chest.

Once the baby Pokemon had settled down, the professor checked if she was healthy, which according to the professor she was. The professor also told him that the vulpix was female. He then told ash to bring the vulpix to the lab the next morning to do a proper check-up on her. After saying that the professor left, leaving his Arcanine behind. That night, ash slept with the baby vulpix held in his arms against his chest on the mattress in front of the fireplace, with both ninetales and Arcanine on either side of him.

The next morning, ash took the vulpix to the lab, where he was met by professor Oak, Gary who was carrying his Squirtle in his arms, and the other 5 growlithe pups who had come to the lab to search for their parents. While the professor checked up on the vulpix, Arcanine and ninetales took all the pups with them outside. Ash had to stay with the professor all the time he conducted his checks on the vulpix as she refused to go anywhere without ash. According to the professor, vulpix was 1 foot tall and weighed 5 kg, which was average for her species. Gary smirked in ash's direction hearing this as vulpix was average height and weight whereas his Squirtle was already stronger than the average member of his species. Ash just ignored him because he already loved his vulpix, no matter what her height and weight were. The professor also told him that his vulpix had the flash fire ability, meaning fire type moves would have no effect on her during battle and instead would only boost her power. His vulpix had also inherited flare blitz and hex as egg moves. Ash was really ecstatic to ear all this as it told him that vulpix was going to become a really strong Pokemon one day. Ash told his Pokemon so who replied by licking his face.

Later Gary told him that his Squirtle had the ability torrent, and had inherited aqua jet and dragon pulse as egg moves. Gary was really happy to note that his Squirtle had a dragon type move as an egg move.

Before leaving, ash was told by the professor to not make vulpix practice any Pokemon move before she was at least 2 months old. The professor also advised ash to play with her as much as he could, and to engage her in physical activities to strengthen her muscles.

A week after she was hatched, ash introduced vulpix to her siblings at the ranch. Being the only girl in the whole bunch of baby Pokemon made the vulpix shy at first and she refused to leave ash's side. But her desire to play with others finally won over and she left ash's side to play with the other pups. Having professor Oak's Arcanine for a father and then role model had made the whole bunch of pups rather rowdy, so it didn't take them long to remove the tiniest bit of shyness present in vulpix.

Ash's dad sent him a book on the vulpix evolutionary line after being told that his egg had hatched into a vulpix. By the time the next 2 months passed, ash had memorized the book by heart. Vulpix had also grown in that time, now standing at 1'4" and weighing 7 kg.

By this time, Gary had already started teaching Squirtle the bubble attack. So ash was just itching to get permission from professor Oak to teach vulpix some new moves. He finally got the permission to teach her the ember attack on the day she turned 2 months old. It took vulpix 2 months to produce a respectable ember attack. In the same amount of time, Gary's Squirtle had learned the bubble attack and the tackle attack, and he was now working on tail whip. It took vulpix another 1 month before ash declared her ember attack workable in battle. During this time ash had also taught her the tackle attack. Ash had noticed that when vulpix played with the growlithe pups, sometimes they would get too rough with her and she would start making these really cute eyes at them which would immediately stop them from bothering her. When he told this to the professor one day, the professor told him that she must have been using the very basic form of baby-doll eyes attack, which was a fairy type attack which lowered the opponents attack power. Ash was really happy to learn that his vulpix had learned a fairy type attack, which was one of the most powerful Pokemon type, all by herself even if it was a status lowering attack.

The book given to him by his dad had told him that vulpix were some of the quickest Pokémon, and their evolution ninetales were among the fastest Pokémon on the planet. So ash decided to teach her quick attack as her next attack. It took vulpix another 2 months to learn it, and another month to learn it enough to use in battle effectively. By this time, vulpix was around 8 months old and her single tail had split into 3. All of her tails were still white at the tips instead of the orange colour they were known for. So, for the next 3 months, instead of teaching her any new attack, ash focused on developing her physically and had her do some physical exercises daily specially designed for her species. During this time he also worked with her to perfect the attacks she already knew.

Their hard work paid off as by the end of their 3rd month of training, vulpix had finally gotten all 6 of her tails, and there was not even a speck of white in them. She also stood at 2'0" and weighed almost 10 kg, which according to his book was the average for her species. According to professor Oak, his vulpix would be keep on growing physically for another 2 years, although her growth rate would be slow. From the tests the professor conducted, he estimated that she would grow to maybe around 3'0", which would make her one of the biggest Pokemon of her species. Professor Oak's Arcanine was a massive Pokemon, around 7 feet tall, and his genes were already showing in his daughter. Vulpix was not the only one who had inherited the good genes. Her brothers were also getting bigger day by day.

So, it was a year after the day ash had gotten his first Pokemon's egg, that Ash left his home to go to Viridian city, where his dad had his own gym. His dad had told him now that vulpix was not a baby anymore, and old enough to properly train, he will be spending every alternate month at his gym to learn more about Pokemons and train his Pokemon. Ash was reluctant to leave his mom and pallet town at first, but it was his mom who finally convinced him to go. She told him that it would be good practice for when he would become a trainer and go on his journey. Also, his dad was one of the toughest Pokemon trainer in all of Kanto, so he would learn a lot from him. So, it was with a somewhat reluctant heart that he left for viridian city with his dad who had come to pick him up.

Ash and his dad had left for viridian city in the morning and it took the almost 6 hours to reach the viridian city even by car. Ash had already visited the viridian city quite a few times before with his mom and dad, so it was nothing new to him. Although it still amazed him knowing that viridian was at least 4 times bigger than Pallet town, maybe more. His dad's gym was located on the edge of the city which provided him with hundreds of acres of land to use for his Pokemon.

From what ash remembered, 3 major paths lead from the city centre. To the north was Route 2, as well as Viridian Forest, which lied in the middle of the route, leading to Pewter City. To the south was Route 1, which led to Pallet Town. And to the west was Route 22, leading to Indigo Plateau and the Pokémon League.

The 1st evening in the gym his dad told him to either get rest or to get himself acquainted with the gym. After setting his luggage in the room his dad assigned to him, ash decided to explore the gym. There weren't a lot of people in the gym, just enough to properly take care of it. There wasn't even any trainer to challenge his dad. So after some time, he just decided to get some rest as his dad had told him that they would start his training the next morning.

The next morning, he woke up early and after freshening up, he went to dining room. There he was met with his dad, who was already having his breakfast and his dad's Persian.

Persian was a large, quadruped, feline Pokémon. Its fur was pale tan with the exception of its black-rimmed ears. It had a short muzzle with a small, black nose, red eyes with slit pupils, rounded ears, a pair of pointed teeth in its upper jaw, and three whiskers on either side of its face. From what ash knew, its thick whiskers were very sensitive to changes in air movements, enabling it to detect its prey by movement alone. In the centre of its forehead was a red jewel. Its long tail had a distinctive curl at the end. It had long legs and three-toed paws with retractable claws. Persian's lithe muscles enabled it to walk without making a sound.

Persian just gave him a lazy look as he entered the dining room before going back to her own breakfast. His father gave him a nod and motioned for him to sit. Vulpix, who was trailing behind him, decided to make friends with the large feline Pokemon and went to sit with him. Although it didn't look like the Persian was any interested in getting to know the fox Pokemon. Vulpix soon gave up and came back to Ash, who picked her up and placed her on his lap.

After breakfast, his dad took him to the grounds behind the gym.

"So, when will we start training?" ash asked after setting the vulpix down who immediately bolted towards the trees where she could see some ratatas playing.

"Soon. Let's have a discussion first" his dad replied.

"Discussion about what" ash asked looking perplexed.

"You"

"What about me?" ash asked again.

"Tell me ash, what is your dream?" his dad asked.

"I want to be a Pokemon master" ash replied without any hesitation.

"And what does it mean to be a Pokemon master?"

"It means…uh." Ash hesitated and thought about it. "It means I'm going to catch some Pokemons and train them to become the best and then one day, I'm going to defeat the champion".

"So you want to be the champion. Is that what you mean?" his dad asked again.

"Well, in a way yes!" ash replied.

"So you don't want to be a Pokemon master?" his dad asked again.

Now ash was getting confused. Didn't his dad implied a few moments ago that both being the champion and the Pokemon master were same things. He asked him so.

"Aren't both the same thing?"

"Let me ask you something different first. Have you ever heard of any Pokemon master?" his dad asked again.

Ash thought about it for a moment and then said, "Well, aren't you a ground type Pokemon master, and Blaine, a fire Pokemon master, and Lance, a dragon type Pokemon master?"

"We are not Pokemon masters ash" his dad explained. "We are specialists in a particular Pokemon type. I'm a ground type specialist. Lance is a dragon type specialist. Blaine is a fire type specialist. None of us is a Pokemon master, not even Lance".

"But isn't Lance the champion. He is the most powerful Pokemon trainer in Kanto" ash said, now really interested in whatever his dad was trying to tell him.

"Yes, Lance is the champion and without doubt the most powerful trainer in whole of Kanto. But he is not a Pokemon master" his dad replied. "Being a champion and a Pokemon master are two different things. There has been only 1 Pokemon master in the entire history of Indigo League".

Now ash was stunned. From what he remembered of Kanto's history, Indigo league was around 500 years old and his dad was telling him that in the last 500 years, the had been only 1 Pokemon master.

"Who was he?" ash finally asked after a moment's silence.

"He was the very first Pokemon champion, the same one who established the Indigo League, William Goodshow" his dad said. "And he was 56 years old when he achieved the title of Pokemon master".

Ash just sat there stunned thinking about all that his dad had just told him.

"Still want to become a Pokemon master, when nobody else, not even your hero Lance has been able to become one yet?" his dad asked him.

Ash thought about it for a moment. Yes, it will be tough, tougher than anything else he could do, but just because nobody else had done it didn't mean he couldn't do it. So yes, he would become the 2nd Pokemon master in history of Kanto.

"Yes, my goal is still the same, no matter how difficult it may be" ash replied.

"So, do you know how to become a Pokemon master?" his dad asked.

Before this discussion he would have replied that he just needed to catch some Pokemon, care for them, and train them, and one day defeat the champion. But now, he didn't know.

"No, I don't!" ash replied somewhat subdued.

"Well then it is a good thing that I know it" his dad replied and continued before ash could say anything else. "No, I'm not going to tell you how right now. It is a tightly controlled piece of information, known only by certain gym leaders, elite four and the champion. So I can't tell it to you".

"Then how am I going to become the Pokemon master if I don't even know how to become one?" ash asked now slightly hurt and angry at not being told.

"There are certain things that one need to accomplish before he/she can be called a Pokemon master. I know all of those things. I will tell you one right now and when you complete that task, I will tell you the other, and when you complete that I will tell you the next one and so on. How does that sound?" his dad asked already knowing his answer.

"Very well. Tell me the first thing that I need to do?" ash asked.

"The first thing you need to do in order to become a Pokemon master is that you need to win the indigo league" his dad said.

"I'm already going to do that dad. Tell me something else" ash whined.

"No, I don't think you fully understand" his dad said. "The tasks that you need to perform to become a Pokemon master increase in difficulty with every task you complete. Winning the indigo league is the first and the easiest, and you need to do it as soon as you can, so that you can move on to the next task. Even Lance won the indigo league on his 3rd attempt, at the age of 13. He was given his first Pokemon, his dratini, when he was just 5 years old. He had all the resources of wataru clan, all their techniques at his disposal, and it still took him 3 tries to win the indigo league. It took him another 6 years to become the champion, making him the youngest champion in the history of world, at the age of 19. Well, he was the youngest champion, now that title belongs to Cynthia, champion of Sinnoh. She became champion at the age of 18, 1 year before Lance. And still, none of them is a Pokemon master, and believe me when I say this that both of them are still trying to become the Pokemon master".

Now ash was really shocked. Lance had been the champion for last 10 years, and Cynthia for the last 5, and still none of them was a Pokemon master when they both were actually trying to become one.

"Do you understand me ash? Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" his dad asked. "You need to actually be better than both the champions if you want to achieve your dream during your lifetime".

"Yes, I understand dad" ash replied, and he really did even if it was still mind-boggling. "Will you help me?"

His dad thought about it for a moment.

"I will help you but on one condition" his dad said. "You will always listen to whatever I'm telling you. No exceptions, ever. Do this, and I promise you I will make you a Pokemon master? Can you do that?"

Ash thought about it. Could he do what his dad was asking him to do? Could he trust his dad implicitly? But his dad was promising him that if he could do it then he will definitely become a Pokemon master. The choice was a simple one for ash.

"Yes! I can do that" ash replied.

"Good! We will discuss more about it later" his dad said. "Right now, it is time to see what your vulpix is capable of. Call her and we will start her training".

Ash did so.

After that the whole day was spent testing the limits of his vulpix. How long she could run, how high she could jump, how strong were her tails, how strong were her attacks, her attack range, her attack power, everything was tested by his dad. By the time his dad finished, vulpix was so exhausted that she fell asleep in ash's arms before he could even take her to his room.

After making sure that vulpix was safely sleeping in his room, ash went back to the dining room, where his father was already waiting for him along with his Persian.

"You have trained her well so far" his dad said. "Your decision to focus on her physical development instead of teaching her new moves was a particularly good one. It takes a vulpix usually 15-18 months to develop all 6 of their tails".

"Thanks! I read in the books that vulpix won't be able to properly fight or even use her full capabilities before developing her tails. So I decided to help her develop them first. I just followed the exercises mentioned in the books that a vulpix can perform to help her develop her tails at a faster rate" ash said.

"That was good thinking on your part. Now that she is fully developed, we can focus on training her without any problem. I talked to Blaine before you came here, he has a ninetales of his own. He told me about a few exercises that you should make vulpix perform daily" his dad said. "As you know, every Pokemon has a type of energy inside them that they you for various tasks like breathing fire or generating electricity. Now, some people may tell you that the energy in every Pokemon is same, but never listen to them. Fire type Pokemon use a totally different type of energy than water type Pokemon, because if that wasn't the case, every Pokemon would be capable of learning just about every move. Though some Pokemon have more than 1 type of energy present inside them, and some can even convert one type of energy to other. Your vulpix has fire type energy inside her. When you tell her to perform ember tomorrow, ask her to try to sense the energy she uses for her attack. Keep it up till she can sense this energy without performing any attack. When she can sense this energy inside her even while not performing any attack, ask her to circulate this energy inside her whole body".

"But isn't the energy already present in her body?" ash enquired truly intrigued.

"Yes, but it just present there. It is like water in a glass, it is stationary, and it is not moving. Make sure that vulpix understand this, she has to keep this energy moving inside her body. It will help her in 2 ways" his dad said showing him 2 fingers. "First of all, it will improve her control over the energy, meaning that she will learn fire type attacks faster, her attacks will be stronger, and she will waste less energy while performing an attack. Second, circulating the fire type energy inside her body will slowly help her withstand higher temperature, as a result the fire she produces will be hotter. Blaine's ninetails has been performing this exercise for the past few years, and now she can even stand inside a volcano, inside the lava flowing there".

Ash just gaped at that. Ninetails were not known to be able to survive inside lava. Even amongst fire type Pokemon, there were very few who could survive being bathed in lava. For a ninetails to have achieved this told ash about the potential of this technique beeter than anything else could.

"Now ash, remember this, you will be the one to train vulpix. I will tell you tips and tricks just like I told you now, but I will not train her. She is your Pokemon, so how to train her, what areas to focus, what attacks to teach her, you will have to decide all that. You can come to me if you have any problem or if you want my help for anything particular. Understand?" his dad asked.

"Yes dad, I understand" ash replied.

"Good. Now finish your dinner and then go prepare a proper training schedule for vulpix. You will start training her tomorrow. Make sure you leave a day every week just for rest because proper rest is every bit as important as proper training. I will also join you every week on the day before your break. For the rest 5 days you can train her any way you want"

Ash nodded at that.

After finishing his dinner, ash went back to his room and did just that. He used the computer in his room to find out all the moves that vulpix could learn and then he made a list of the ones that he wanted to teach his vulpix. He decided on a timeline for when he would teach her a move and how long they both would spend on it.

After that he woke her up and gave her the dinner that he had brought for her. Then they both fell asleep on the bed, with vulpix lying on top of ash, dreaming of what the next day would bring for them.

A month later, a day before he would be returning to Pallet town, ash stood on one side of the battlefield inside the gym while his dad stood on the opposite side of the field. Vulpix stood in front of him and in front of her was his dad's Pokemon, Nidoqueen, a dual ground and poison type Pokemon.

Nidoqueen was a large, bipedal blue Pokémon with distinct reptilian features. Its body was encased with extremely hard scales that served as excellent protection from any attack and stood up when Nidoqueen was excited or provoked. It had a blunt snout, narrow brown eyes, and large ears with brown insides. There was a small horn on its forehead, and single spine on each ear, and there was a line of toxic spikes running down the length of its back. Each hand had three short claws and each foot was two claws. Its lower jaw, the front of its abdomen, and two plates on its chest were cream-colored. It had a thick, powerful tail.

His dad wanted him to battle his Nidoqueen to see how vulpix and ash both would fare in a real battle. The previous month had been spent doing some rigorous training. Ash had wanted vulpix to learn the move fire burst, which was an upgraded version of ember with a hotter flame and more power. The flame bullets resulted from flame burst also exploded on coming in contact with the target, though it was a small explosion, nothing compared to a fire blast, which could reduce the whole gym to ash if fired by a sufficiently powerful Pokemon. With the help of her new energy circulating exercise, a silly name he had come up with, she was able to learn the move in just 10 days. After that ash had started to teach her hex, which was an egg move for her, so she was able to get a hang of it even faster, but due to it being a ghost type move, it was really underpowered as she couldn't control the other-wordly energy very well.

The schedule ash had come up with for training vulpix was an easy one, if somewhat hard during practice. 3 hours in the morning were spent on physical exercises, most of which ash did with vulpix as he couldn't ask her to do something if he himself wasn't willing to do. Seeing her trainer doing the exercises with her motivated vulpix to do even better. In the afternoon, vulpix would work on her energy regulating exercise, while ash worked on his studies. Since he was going to be a trainer, he didn't need to go to a proper school, but he still needed to study and pass the standard graduation exams. He had already cleared his level 2 exams last year, which was equivalent to graduating primary school, and now he was preparing for level 3, which would make him equal to a secondary school graduate. In the evening, 2 hours were spent on learning a new move, while another 2 would be spent on practising and improving the already learnt moves.

Now as ash stood on the battlefield behind is vulpix, he recalled all the moves she could do. She could do ember, flame burst, Hex, although it wasn't fully learned yet, tackle, quick attack and baby doll eyes. Nidoqueen was a fully developed Pokemon, and quite powerful, so ash had no dreams of defeating her, yet. But he was still going to do his best. A single hit from Nidoqueen's powerful body would take out vulpix, so his best bet would be to attack from distance.

"Alright ash! Show me what you have learned so far" his dad said from the other side. "Attack when you are ready".

"Vulpix, try to maintain the distance, if nidoqueen attacks, dodge with quick attack. Now, start with ember"

Vulpix immediately started shooting small balls of flame towards Nidoqueen, who much to ash's surprise just stood at her position. The attack hit her head on producing some smoke. When the smoke cleared, Nidoqueen stood at her place without any damage. Then she opened her mouth and fired off some purple needle like energy which ash immediately identified as poison sting. Vulpix dodged them without any trouble and started to run across the field in zig-zag pattern so that Nidoqueen couldn't attack her. Nidoqueen kept on firing poison sting for another few seconds before stopping much to both ash's and vulpix's relief.

"Vulpix! Use baby-doll eyes. Then flame burst, and then change position using quick attack and flame burst again" ash shouted.

Vulpix did just that. She gathered some energy in her eyes before looking straight into nidoqueen's eyes. The effect was immediate. Nidoqueen relaxed her stance. Vulpix quickly gathered a large amount of flame in her mouth and then fired it at Nidoqueen. The flame bullet, much larger than previous attack slammed into nidoqueen's face and exploded. Nidoqueen immediately snapped out of the previous attack's spell and roared in pain as much hotter flames licked at her face. She moved her tail and slammed into the ground with such force that the whole field shook. Vulpix who was in the middle of charging another flame burst, lost her balance and fell on the field. She cried out in pain when some loose rocks slammed into her.

"Come on vulpix! I know you can do it. Flame burst one more time" ash shouted. Vulpix obeyed immediately and started another flame burst. On the other side of the field, Nidoqueen having recovered from the previous flame burst, opened her large mouth and fired two large thick gooey sludge. She fired off her attack at the same time as vulpix. The first sludge bomb exploded on coming in contact with the flame burst and exploded, covering the field in a large amount of smoke. The second sludge bomb continued uninterrupted and slammed into vulpix's small body, who cried out in pain. Thankfully, it didn't poison her.

"Vulpix, come back here!" ash called, mentally thanking arceus, the god of Pokemon, that vulpix was not poisoned by the sludge bomb. But as she came back to ash's side, he noted that vulpix was wincing ever so slightly, and was favouring her left side more. The small earthquake attack earlier must have damaged her more than he had thought it would. Ash knew that it was a very weak earthquake attack, because if it had been fully powered, vulpix would have fainted right then and there. And that sludge bomb hadn't done her any favours. One more direct attack, and vulpix would be done for. But ash didn't want to lose so easily, even though he knew that defeat was inevitable. Nidoqueen was a powerhouse of a Pokemon, and vulpix had just started training. Looking at the Nidoqueen, who was patiently waiting for him to attack again, ash quickly thought of a plan.

"Vulpix, use quick attack to get near Nidoqueen and fire ember at her left shoulder. When she attacks back, dodge with quick attack and fire ember again at the same place. Go" ash said to vulpix in a very low voice so Nidoqueen or his dad couldn't hear it.

Vulpix immediately started running towards Nidoqueen, leaving a white energy trailing behind her signifying her use of quick attack. Nidoqueen patiently waited for her to come close, opening her mouth and charging a white energy. The moment vulpix came within 10 feet of Nidoqueen, Nidoqueen fired off her attack, freezing the very air as white lances of energy moved towards vulpix who dodged at the last second using the speed provided by the quick attack and fired a quick ember attack which Nidoqueen ignored as it didn't seem to do any damage. Ash recognized the attack fired by Nidoqueen as ice-beam, as it froze the part of the field where it slammed. The next minute went by without any success on either Pokemon's part. Nidoqueen couldn't seem to catch vulpix with her attacks while vulpix's ember attack didn't seem to be doing anything. But just as it seemed that they had both reached a stalemate, an ember attack made Nidoqueen shriek in pain. When ash looked closely at Nidoqueen, he could see an angry red burn mark at her left shoulder. The continued use of ember hd made induced a burn on nidoqueen's body.

"Now, use hex! Before Nidoqueen can recover" ash shouted immediately.

Pleased by the sudden damage her attack had done, vulpix immediately fired off a hex. Ghostly energy surrounded her mouth before she shot it in the direction of Nidoqueen. The attack hit Nidoqueen head on and she roared in pain.

Seeing that his Pokemon had suffered enough, ash's dad finally issued a command, "shadow ball, and finish it".

Before ash could even order vulpix to dodge, Nidoqueen had charged up a shadow ball in her mouth and fired. The shadow ball slammed into vulpix and exploded with such force that it picked vulpix off the ground and tossed her 10 feet back.

"Vulpix!" ash shouted. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to get up after such an attack, ash immediately ran up to her and picked up her in his arms.

"You were so amazing vulpix, I couldn't have asked for anything more" ash whispered to vulpix who looked really sad at having lost. "Don't worry, Nidoqueen is really tough and you were still able to push her so much. Next time, we will definitely win."

"Vul! Vulpix" vulpix cooed back and licked ash's face promising her trainer that yes, next time they would definitely win. After that she finally lost consciousness. Ash took out the vulpix's pokeball, a luxury ball, having gotten it from his mother, and returned vulpix to it.

"That was a good strategy you used, taking advantage of vulpix'x moveset and nidoqueen's arrogance. I don't think she is going to underestimate anyone for some time now" Giovanni said, having already returned Nidoqueen to her pokeball.

"Yeah! I knew that we couldn't defeat Nidoqueen. The power difference between her and vulpix is just too much right now. I knew that hex would be able to damage Nidoqueen if she got a burn. So I had vulpix use ember again and again as Nidoqueen just kept on ignoring them thinking they were harmless" ash explained.

"It is a good combination. Burn the other Pokemon and then use hex. A surprisingly good combination against a superior opponent. If it was a ninetales that had fired that hex, you would have won the match"

"Vulpix is still learning how to properly use hex. I don't think if it wasn't an egg move that she would have been able to learn it".

"She will get it eventually, just keep practising it"

The next day, ash went back to pallet town. When he saw Gary there, he immediately challenged ash to a Pokemon battle. It was ash's first Pokemon battle aside from his fight against Nidoqueen. Vulpix was a lot faster than Squirtle but Squirtle had better defence and offence both. Knowing this, ash used the same combination he had used against Nidoqueen, use quick attack to dodge, and fire ember and flame burst when presented an opening. Squirtle got burned after getting hit by a particularly powerful flame burst. After that it was over the moment vulpix used hex. But it wasn't a one sided match. Squirtle had hit vulpix with a very powerful water gun, and some bubble attacks had also made contact. Vulpix was really exhausted after the battle.

Gary congratulated ash on winning their first battle but ash knew that gary was really angry at himself having lost the battle. Ash could understand. He would have been upset too if he had lost his first Pokemon battle against his best friend and rival.

The next year went by quickly in the same fashion. Ash would spend one month at home and then one month at his dad's gym. Every time ash would come back from his dad's gym, Gary would challenge him. Gary won their second battle and the 3rd too, and ash won back the fourth and fifth battle. He would have won the 6th and latest battle as well, but Squirtle evolved mid battle, allowing Gary to win. Ash wasn't really upset about his latest loss, as it had been a close battle even after squirtle evolved. He was happy for his friend. Squirtle, now Wartortle, was already showing signs of becoming a monster one day. He was 4 feet tall after his evolution, 1 feet more than what was average for his species. He also weighed 30 kg, so Gary couldn't carry him in his arms anymore.

Professor Oak had told them that ash was the only one from the 10 kids whose Pokemon hadn't evolved. All 9 of other Pokemon had evolved at least once by then. But ash wasn't really concerned about vulpix's evolution right now. Ash knew that he needed a fire stone to evolve his vulpix and since he didn't have one, he had asked his dad if he had any. His dad had promised him that he would provide him a fire stone but only after vulpix manged to defeat his Nidoqueen. His dad had forbidden him from evolving vulpix before that. When he had asked why, his dad had told him that if vulpix could defeat his Nidoqueen, who was a top gym level Pokemon, as a pre-evolved Pokemon, that it would make her that much more powerful when she evolved into a ninetales. So, right now ash's main problem was defeating Nidoqueen, who had defeated vulpix all six times he had challenged her. Though Nidoqueen had to try really hard to win the last time they had battled, so ash considered it progress.

His vulpix had also grown a lot in the last year. According to latest readings by the professor, she was 2'8" in height and weighed 18 Kg. Ash could already tell that his vulpix was going to become one of the largest Pokemon of her species. A normal ninetales had a height of 3 feet and his vulpix was going to reach that height soon.

Vulpix had also learned the moves fire spin and will-o-wisp, both fire type moves, hypnosis, a psychic type move which made the opponent sleep, bite, a dark type move, fire fang, and iron tail, a steel type move for which he had to use a TM which his dad had provided him with. Thankfully, it was a reusable TM, so ash could use it again in future to teach iron tail to some other Pokemon. In addition, vulpix had also perfected hex. Now using will-o-wisp to induce burn and then using hex was his favourite combination move.

The next move he wanted vulpix to work on was flamethrower. Flamethrower, like the name suggested, was a move in which the Pokemon literally fired out a constant stream of flames from their mouth. Masters of this move were said to be able to keep up a single flamethrower going for minutes. Since his vulpix had just started to learn the move, she could only do it for a few seconds.

Now, standing before his father in his gym, ash wondered what his dad wanted to talk about. He had just came to viridian city few hours ago and his dad had called him to his office, which was rare to say the least. Ash wondered if it was about him or vulpix.

"Tell me ash what do you think of vulpix right now? You must have learned everything there is to know about her evolutionary line by now." his dad asked.

Ash thought about it for few moments. His dad was right in saying that ash had read a lot about vulpix and her evolutionary form ninetales. Since the day vulpix hatched from her egg, ash had wanted to know everything about her line, so he had tried to find every piece of information that was available to him.

"Vulpix are known for their special attacks and speed. They are not very large, not even large, vulpix are quite small Pokemon actually, so their physical attack power and defence is quite weak in comparison to their speed. But my vulpix doesn't have these weaknesses to such extent. She is very large for her species already and still growing. I think, and professor Oak agreed with me when I told him this that when she evolves into ninetales and finishes growing, she may reach the height of an average Arcanine. Still, vulpix are known for their speeds, so I have tried to focus on helping her become as fast as she can. With the exercises that you recommended, her attack and defence has become quite good as well, but her speciality lies in speed" ash said.

"Good. You are correct to think that ninetales may reach 6 feet in height one day, which will provide her with a very good physical offence and defence, no doubt because of her superior genetics. Getting a Pokemon sired by Oak's Arcanine was a stroke of luck for you. I have seen him fight you know, his Arcanine. I don't think even Persian would be able to defeat him, though don't tell Persian that" his dad said, laughing silently. "Now, there are different approaches to how to raise a Pokemon. Some people try to focus only on developing the abilities of Pokemon that they are already good at. Some people try to raise Pokemon to counter their weaknesses. There are a lot of other approaches out there. When you came here, I noticed that you were already working on Vulpix's speed and her special attacks even without you noticing it. Vulpix was really good at ember, and her quick attack was also very good, but her tackle was normal compared to them. I wanted you to learn first-hand these things, that's why I didn't point them out. That was also the reason that most of the exercises that I taught you and your vulpix were meant to help her increase her physical strength since you were neglecting them though unknowingly."

Ash looked horrified to learn that he had been focusing only on some parts of vulpix's training. He had never even realized that.

"Now, don't look so sad. It is a common mistake that almost every trainer makes at the start of their journey. You only come to know about these things through experience. And no, because of the exercises that I had vulpix perform almost every day, she is not lagging behind in those areas. But since you will be getting a second Pokemon soon, and you still had not become aware about it, I thought I should mention it to you"

"Thanks dad!" ash releases a sigh of relief knowing that his negligence hadn't resulted in hindering vulpix's growth. He silently promised himself to never repeat this mistake again. But then he thought about what his dad had said. "Wait, what second Pokemon? I thought I was not allowed to catch any Pokemon till I can officially start my Pokemon journey?"

"First of all, if you want to become a Pokemon master in one life-time then forget about what is official and what isn't. Most of the league rules regarding Pokemon are for people who can't handle Pokemon properly. People are not allowed to carry Pokemon above a certain limit because league don't think that you can take care of them all. Same reason for not allowing you to catch above a certain number of Pokemon. Though you can officially increase the limit of how many Pokemon you can carry with you if you can get someone with a league position to sponsor it. You can also have the no. of Pokemon you can catch increased the same way but there is a limit to how much you can do it. Do you really think that lance or any other champion or elite four trainer didn't already have multiple Pokemon before they started their Pokemon journey? Let me tell you, most of them did."

"Well, if you put it like that I can understand. But wont the league or the professor object to me catching a Pokemon?" ash asked, now excited at having another partner to help him achieve his dream.

"You will be catching the Pokemon but it will be registered to me. The pokeball that you will use will have my Pokemon trainer id. So you don't need to worry about league knowing about it. I will officially transfer it to you when you start your journey. About professor Oak, well you will have to leave the Pokemon here when you go back to Pallet town. You will also have to be careful about not mentioning it to anyone out there"

"I can do that" ash agreed immediately, too excited at the thought of catching a new Pokemon. He wonder who it would be, a pidgey, no, his dad would never agree to a pidgey, even ash knew that by now. No bug type either if it wasn't a scythe, but they were super rare in the wild. Maybe he could catch a nidoran or a Pikachu.

"Where should I go to catch a Pokemon?" ash finally asked his dad.

"I have a house in Sinnoh. We will be going there tomorrow. So, don't bother unpacking your things" his dad said.

"I will catch a sinnoh Pokemon. That's so cool. Thanks dad" ash said, barely containing his excitement. He could already imagine the look on Gary's face when tell him about his, but then he remembered that he couldn't do it for another two years.

"I wonder if I could catch a gible" ash mused out loud.

"Don't get your hopes up. And you will not be getting any dragon type Pokemon till you have a full team" his dad said.

"why so?" ash asked, more interested in knowing the reason than getting angry at being told no. he was still giddy at the thought of catching Pokemon.

"Dragon type Pokemon are the most difficult type of Pokemon to raise. They won't listen to you or respect you if you aren't powerful enough. So till you become powerful enough to gain the respect of a dragon type, you won't be catching any. We don't want any accidents now, do we?"

"No, I understand"

"Good. You can go now. Be sure to wake up early tomorrow, we have an early flight"

With that said, ash went back to his room, wondering what new Pokemon would become part of his family.

A/N:

rockingchampif, thank you for posting the very first review for this fic, I hope you will continue to do so. I hope you are not too much disappointed with ash getting a vulpix. I agree with you that growlithe is an amazing pokemon, and Arcanine is one of my all-time favourite, but he has been used as a starter by a lot of people before in their fanfics. I wanted to try something new. Rest assured, in the world of pokemon that I am envisioning, ninetales is also going to be an amazing pokemon. Also, there is no move limit. Pokemon trainers are going to be way more competent, it's not just ash.

I hope more people will leave a review this time. Till next time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter – 3**

 **The expanding family**

The next morning, Ash, his dad, and vulpix, all left for the Veilstone city, located in the eastern part of Sinnoh. It took them 8 hours of non-stop flight to reach there.

Veilstone City was a city in eastern Sinnoh. According to the information that he had been able to find about in on the internet, it was the eighth largest city in the Pokémon world. It was situated near the sea to the north, with Route 214 and Pastoria City to the south, and Route 215 to the west. It also housed Maylene, the Veilstone City Gym Leader.

Veilstone was carved out of steep and Rocky Mountains, giving the city rock walls that projected a cold atmosphere. It was fairly isolated and had little contact with other cities. This city was also home to the Sinnoh region's department store, much like Celadon City in Kanto, Goldenrod City in Johto, and Lilycove City in Hoenn. Veilstone was famous for its stones, including its meteorites, which many claimed were similar to evolutionary stones even though no Pokemon was known to be able to evolve using them.

According to his dad, they were not going to stay inside the city. His dad had a small house, a place to relax according to his dad, an hour drive away from the city. A car, along with its driver, was already waiting for them at the airport. So Ash didn't get a chance to see the city much but what he could see from inside the car told him that the place had a rich history. Most of the houses were made of rocks and wood. Only a few modern looking stores seemed to be made up of concrete, metal and glass. An hour later they reached the house which seemed to be situated on the base of a small hill covered with trees. By this time Ash had been travelling for nearly 10 hours, so he was too tired to do any exploring. He had his dinner along with his father and crAshed into the room his dad assigned to him.

The next morning Ash woke up to the feeling of something wet scraping his face. He opened his eyes to see vulpix sitting by his pillow and licking his face.

"Vulpix, stop licking my face!" Ash exclaimed trying to cover his face.

"Vulpix! Vul vul vulpix" vulpix yipped and ran out the door.

Ash looked at his watch laying on the table by his bedside only to find that it too early to wake up and decided to get some more sleep.

A few minutes later, vulpix came back to the room to find that her trainer had gone back to sleep. Vulpix jumped on the bed first and then on top of a sleeping Ash to wake him up.

"Ow! Vulpix, you have to stop jumping on me every morning" Ash exclaimed, finally opening his eyes fully. "You are not a baby anymore. One of these days, you will seriously injure me with your jumping"

Vulpix just whined lowly and presented him with her most adorable puppy-dog eyes before again starting to lick his face. Ash just couldn't stay mad at that face and melted in a few seconds. He sat up on the bed before placing vulpix in his lap and started to pet her. Vulpix just stayed there contentedly, purring every so often.

"I'm not mad at you! But you have to seriously stop jumping on me while I'm sleeping" Ash tried to explain to vulpix but she ignored him, and continued to purr like a growlithe pup in his lap. Seeing this, Ash stopped petting her. Having lost her means of getting more scratches behind her ear, vulpix gave him a much betrayed look.

"That won't work. You have to try better" Ash admonished her. Vulpix just gave a huff and rolled back on the bed.

Seeing her playing with his soft bedsheet, Ash smiled and thought if his new Pokemon would also be this happy with him.

"Hey vulpix" Ash called her, a little serious this time. Sensing the seriousness in Ash's voice, vulpix stopped playing with the sheets and gave him her undivided attention. "We are going to try capturing a new Pokemon for the team today. He may not like being with us at first seeing as we will be just going to battle it and then capture it if we can. So I want you to be friendly with the Pokemon and help them adjust to our life. Ok?"

"Vulp?" vulpix just tilted her head to the side wondering who wouldn't be happy with her Ash. He always fed her whenever she wanted, played with her, petted her, wAshed her whenever she felt dirty. He even trained her in new moves and never said anything to her even when she knew she was being a brat. She sometimes thought that Ash was her father instead of that big puppy her mother told her was her real father. He always just wanted to run and play, and all her brothers were like him. Maybe her Ash was going to catch a really dim Pokemon if the Pokemon didn't want to stay with them.

"Just be friendly with our new teammate, Ok?"

"Vul!" vulpix nodded and then went back to roll in the sheets. Ash just laughed seeing her getting lost under the sheets and stood up to go to the bathroom.

An hour later, Ash sat at the dining table of his new residence, waiting for his dad to come. He didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, his dad come into the dining hall, with his ever faithful Persian by his side. His dad took the seat opposite him.

"Good morning dad! Good morning Persian!" Ash greeted the two.

"Good morning Ash!" his dad greeted back while Persian just gave him a bored look.

The butler served the breakfast while they discussed what they were going to do today.

"So, what's the plan for the day?" Ash asked

"We are going hiking on the mountain behind the house. It is a natural habitat for many different species of Pokemon. Since you are new here, I'll go with you today. There are a couple of pokeballs and a pokedex containing information about the sinnoh Pokemon, both registered to me, in my room. Take them with you before leaving the house"

"All right! I can't wait to catch a new Pokemon" Ash exclaimed.

After that they finished breakfast and started to gather the things they would need for the hike.

Half an hour later, Ash, his dad, vulpix and Persian started the hike. It was not a very big mountain, maybe 1000 feet high, nothing compared to something like Mt. Coronet, which some people said was the tallest mountain in the world. Since his dad knew the way to the top, it took them only 4 hours to reach the top. Along the way, Ash battled at least a dozen Bidoof and a dozen Starley, one of which Ash really wanted to catch because it knew the move aerial ace, which was very rare for a 1st stage wild Pokemon to learn by itself, but his dad said that since he was only allowed to catch a single Pokemon right now, he needed to explore the mountain range first, and if they didn't find any other good Pokemon, they could always come back for the Starley.

Ash didn't really care which Pokemon he caught. To him, all Pokemon were same and had the same potential. It was up to the Pokemon trainer to bring out that potential. But he didn't want to object to his dad either, so he followed his instructions. And boy, was he glad that he didn't catch that Starley earlier, because standing in front of him, and hissing at his vulpix who was standing protectively in front of Ash was none other than a Shinx, a Pokemon that Ash didn't even need his pokedex to identify.

Shinx was a quadruped, feline Pokémon resembling a lion cub or lynx kitten. Its front half was dark blue, instead of the normal light blue, which meant it was close to evolution, while the rear was black. There was a short tuft of fur on its head and smaller tufts on each cheek. The top tuft was smaller on the female Shinx and larger on the male. Since it had quite a large tuft, it was probably a male. It had large, oval ears with yellow, star-shaped markings on the insides, yellow eyes, and a tiny, red nose. Whenever it opened its mouth, small fangs could be seen in its upper jaw. A black marking encircled its neck like a collar and there were yellow bands above its forepaws. The hind paws were black, so it was most definitely a male Shinx, as if it was a female, they would have been blue. Spiked fur surrounded the base of its long tail, which was tipped with a yellow star shape.

"Hey Shinx! I challenge you to a battle. If you lose, you will have to become my Pokemon" Ash shouted.

In reply, Shinx hissed at him. How dare this human imply that he would lose? He was the son of a mighty Luxray. He had already defeated all the Pokemon present on this mountain. He knew he was very close to evolving, and this human had the gall to say that he would be defeated. Never! He would show these humans who was the boss here.

"Are you ready vulpix?" Ash asked.

"Vul, vulpix!" vulpix yipped and shot a few embers in the air.

Shinx suddenly started running towards vulpix, leaving white energy trailing behind him. Ash recognized the attack as quick attack. Before he could even order vulpix to dodge, she had already done so using her own quick attack.

"Ember" Ash shouted.

Vulpix stopped a few feet behind Shinx and shot a few embers from her mouth towards Shinx, who fired up a quick thunder shock to counter the attack. Both attacks exploded on contact. Vulpix stopped to see where Shinx went when suddenly he came out of the smoke, too fast for her to dodge and slamed a quick attack into her. Vulpix skidded a few feet back. Before she could recover, Shinx pressed his attack and quick bit onto her front leg with electricity covered teeth. Vulpix fell on the ground and cried out in pain.

"Vulpix! Use flame burst directly on Shinx's head" Ash shouted, worried at seeing vulpix taking a hit. He knew that it wouldn't take her out of the fight. She was a lot tougher than that. Heck it was nothing compared to when she had taken a full powered earthquake from Nidoqueen and she had still stood up. But he never liked to see her in pain. Though he admitted to himself that was a good move on Shinx's part. Using quick attack from inside the smoke created by the explosion and using thunder fang before vulpix could recover.

Vulpix, having heard Ash's command quickly charged up a flame inside her mouth and fired it point blank on Shinx. The flames exploded on impact and Shinx had to let go of her leg. The force of the explosion forced him a few feet away from vulpix, who seeing her chance immediately ran back to Ash's side.

"Are you okay, vulpix?" Ash asked once vulpix was near him again.

"Vul" vulpix nodded, while glaring at Shinx, who had finally recovered from the attack.

"will-o-wisp" Ash said.

Vulpix immediately started gathering the other-wordly flames in her mouth while Shinx once again started running towards her, with electricity crackling over his body.

"Jump when he is near and then fire" Ash whispered to vulpix, who he knew had heard his command with his sensitive hearing.

Just as Shinx was about to slam into her, vulpix jumped and fired the gathered flames from her mouth to Shinx's uncovered back. The electricity gathered around Shinx's body immediately dissipated while he slammed into the ground and howled at being burned. Vulpix didn't need to be told what to do next. She quickly gathered the ghostly energy in her mouth and fired a quick hex at Shinx before he could get a chance to recover. The hex slammed into Shinx before he could even recover from being burned and he immediately roared in pain. It felt like his whole body had been doused in fire. Every inch of his body was burning in pain. Shinx tried to stand up despite the pain, not willing to give up yet but his body gave up on him and he collapsed unconscious.

Ash had to admit, he was really impressed by Shinx. He was able to stand up despite taking a burn-hex combo from vulpix, and that too after taking a point blank flame burst to the face. No other Pokemon he had battled today had been able to even last after taking a flame burst, while here was Shinx, trying to stand up even after taking a hex after being burned. Though, the pain proved too much for the Pokemon as he soon collapsed and lost consciousness.

Ash walked near the unconsciousness Pokemon and gently tapped the Pokemon with the pokeball his dad had given him earlier. Shinx's body was immediately converted into energy and sucked into the pokeball. The pokeball beeped thrice in Ash's hand before going silent, signifying the successful capture.

As vulpix came up beside him, Ash pulled a potion from his backpack and sat on the ground before pulling vulpix on his lap.

"You were really amazing, vulpix." Ash whispered to her while spraying the potion on her front leg where Shinx had bitten with thunder fang. The wound was not deep and immediately closed once he had applied the potion. Then he kissed vulpix on her forehead and said, "I couldn't have asked for a better Pokemon. You were so amazing girl! I'm so proud of you".

Vulpix yipped in reply and started to lick his face. Then she snuggled into Ash before relaxing and just lying there.

"That was a good battle" his dad said, speaking for the first time since his fight with Shinx. "There were a few mistkes that you made, like waiting for that smoke to be cleared, but nothing that can't be learned from experience. Overall, it was a good battle for a first Pokemon capture".

Ash didn't say anything for a few minuted. He just sat there stroking vulpix on the head.

"You knew about the Shinx before we even got here" Ash said. He had been thinking about the events of the dad. His dad had stopped him from capturing a wild Starley who knew the move aerial ace without any prior training, but he didn't object to his capturing of Shinx. "You wanted me to catch Shinx".

"Yes".

"Why?" Ash asked.

"Aren't you happy at capturing a Shinx?" his dad asked.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that I captured him. I just want to know, why him? Why not some other Pokemon?" Ash asked looking at his father.

"He is not just some random wild Pokemon. He is the child of my Persian" his dad replied looking in the air towards the sky. "A few years ago, I encountered a wild Luxray here on this very mountain. She was very powerful for a wild Pokemon, powerful enough to defeat Nidoqueen on her own. Persian took a liking to her, and claimed her after defeating her. A few months later, she laid a bunch of eggs in the cave she had claimed for herself. It's not far from here, just on the other side of this mountain actually. I often came to visit her and her children with Persian. A few months ago, she left this mountain when she had decided that her children were big enough to take care of themselves. All of them went their own way, while this one stuck here, probably wanting to evolve before going to explore the world."

"How can a mother leave her children just like that?" Ash asked, slightly shocked.

"Some Pokemon are like that Ash. They raise their children till they deem them old enough to survive on their own. Some don't even wait for their child to hatch from the egg. They just lay eggs, and leave them in the wild. It's their instincts telling them to do so. Wild Pokemon are creatures of instinct and the sooner you learn that, the better. Usually Pokemon, that have to fend for themselves from the very beginning are some of the most powerful Pokemon you will ever find in the wild. Don't try to view Pokemon from a human's point of view. They are different from us."

Ash thought about his dad's words for a few moments. His dad let him sit there for a moment before asking him to move. It was getting late in the afternoon and they were getting tired. It took them another 2 hours to finally come back home. Ash took the pokeball containing Shinx and placed it in healing machine that his dad had installed for his own use in the house. Ash didn't know how the machine worked, just that it worked. Ash left the pokeball in the machine and went back to his room to take a shower. It would probably take the machine whole night to fully heal Shinx. He could have been healed faster if they were at the Pokemon centre, but he wasn't complaining. He wondered if Shinx would like him or not. There was no hidden mind control device inside the pokeball that would make the Pokemon instantly like trainers. It was all up to the trainer and the Pokemon. Young, pre-evolved Pokemon were easy to train to like their trainers, that's why most trainers preferred to catch pre-evolved forms only. But there were always people who thought they could handle anything and everything. It was one of the main reasons for a lot of trainers' deaths every year.

Later that night, while having dinner with his dad, he had a conversation that basically decided his path as a Pokemon trainer for a couple of years' to come.

"Tell me Ash, who do you know about the limits imposed by the league on the trainers?" his dad asked.

"A trainer can only carry a maximum of 6 Pokemon with him at any time. However that limit can be increased if you are an employee of the league or if you have a league member ready to sponsor you" Ash said, thinking about everything he knew about the topic. "If someone carries a full team and then catches a new Pokemon, that pokeball will automatically lock itself and can be opened inside a gym, or Pokemon centre and the extra Pokemon must then be transferred to his sponsor's Pokemon ranch."

"What about the number of Pokemon that a trainer can catch?"

"Umm… I don't think there is a limit on the number of Pokemon one person can catch, is there?" Ash looked at his dad for confirmation.

"There is. Didn't professor Oak tell you about it?"

Ash thought back to his lessons with the professor and came back empty headed. He shook his head in negative. A sigh escaped his dad's mouth.

"Listen carefully, because even I cannot change these rules. Usually when a trainer starts his Pokemon journey, he is provided a starter Pokemon by either the Pokemon gym leader of a city or a regional professor. You are lucky that you got yours so early. Every time you catch a new Pokemon, it is registered in your pokedex, whose data can be accessed by the league anytime. A trainer is not allowed to catch more than 6 Pokemon before having at least 3 gym badges. After defeating at least 3 Pokemon gyms, you can catch more Pokemon but not more than a total of 12. That means, when you enter the league championship, you can have a maximum of 2 teams of 6 Pokemon each".

"But that's so unfair. Why is there even such a rule? What if I want to catch more than 12 Pokemon?" Ash asked frantically, looking really upset.

"There are many reasons behind such rules. One is that not many trainers are able to care for more than 6 Pokemon, let alone 12. Catching more Pokemon may lead to neglect for some Pokemons. There are some other, more important reasons behind such rules, but you won't be able to understand the, yet. Ask me this after you first league championship, and I will tell you." hid dad said, before Ash could even open his mouth to argue. "Now for those who don't follow the rules, it depends on the trainer actually. If the person is a good trainer, he is just given a warning by the league to no to do it again while the Pokemon is released back into the wild. If the person is not a good trainer, his Pokemon license can be suspended. Harsh, I know, but it gets the point across that you can't just ignore the rules set by the league"

"So I can only have a maximum of 12 Pokemon?" Ash asked.

"No. If you are able to win the Pokemon league, you are allowed to catch 6 more Pokemons, a 3rd team of 6. Becoming an elite 4 member will allow you to have a 4th team and becoming the champion allows you a 5th team. A champion can have a total of 30 Pokemon. Though most trainers who go that high, don't do so because it is not possible to train so many Pokemon effectively to their full potential. I think champion Lance has currently only 3 full teams. Cynthia has even less Pokemon. A good trainer is not someone who catches more number of Pokemon, but he is someone who brings out the potential of every Pokemon he catches. So, make sure that you don't catch just any Pokemon. Think carefully about which Pokemon you want to catch, because you have limited choices. I would suggest you to read up on the pokedex and make a list of Pokemon that you would be interested in having for your team. You have 2 more years before you can start your Pokemon journey. Start thinking of how you are going to approach things."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"I mean are you just going to catch Pokemon as they come before you in the wild, train and challenge gyms as you go on without any plans? Or will you plan which Pokemon to catch, learn about where you can find them, and learn how to raise them, train them properly and then challenge gyms? Will you try to compete in the league during your first year itself like most trainers try to do, or will you wait and prepare and only compete when you are ready? Will you challenge the main 8 gyms of Kanto or will you challenge the lower level gyms? Is there any special gym where you would like to train for some time? There are a lot of things that you need to think about. Becoming a master is no easy thing. You need to give it everything you have got and then some more."

Ash had never thought of it like that. To him, Pokemon journey meant going on an adventure with his vulpix, catching new Pokemon and challenging gyms for badges. But to become a Pokemon master had been his dream from the day he had first seen a Pokemon and understood what being a Pokemon trainer basically meant. And he was not going to give up on his dream for anything. So, he had to prepare for his journey a little early. Isn't that why he was training under his dad?

"You don't need to make all the decisions today. Read about different Pokemon, different battling strategies, different approaches to be a Pokemon trainer, make a list of Pokemon you are interested in, search how you would go about training them if you ever catch them. We are staying here in sinnoh for the next month. Make sure you have at least a basic idea of all the things I told you today by the end of the month. It will also give you time to make yourself familiar with Shinx and help him adjust to the training methods. He is going to evolve soon, your Shinx. I would say within the month. Make sure to develop a working relationship with him before he evolves, because it would be really difficult after that. We will increase the level of training once he evolves."

Thinking about all the things he had been told, Ash just nodded. They finished dinner soon after that.

The next morning Ash stood in the backyard of the house with Shinx's pokeball in his hands and vulpix by his side.

"I'm going to release Shinx now. If he tries to attack, knock him back with iron tail, otherwise try to look friendly" Ash said to vulpix, lightly scratching behind her ears.

Vulpix just purred and yipped as if saying there wasn't anyone friendlier than her.

Taking a deep breath, Ash pressed the release button on the pokeball and aimed it towards the ground. Shinx materialized a few metres in front of him on the ground.

Shinx shook his head at leaving the weird machine he had been in for the past few hours. It was weird. He remembered battling the fox standing in front of him, who was commanded by the human standing behind her. That fox was strong. He hadn't thought much of her when he had first seen her. But she was strong. Though she fought like a witch his mother had told him about. Attacking him with things he couldn't even see. He could see it in her eyes, she may be acting friendly but she was ready to attack him at the first sign of trouble. Well, he didn't want to experience the pain that he had felt yesterday. It was simply too much. So he was just going to sit there. The human must have caught him after he fell unconscious with that ball his mother had warned him and his siblings of. He flexed his whole body once to check if there was any injury but to his surprise he didn't find any.

" _Did your human heal me?" Shinx asked the witch-fox._

" _Yes" vulpix replied. "He doesn't like to cause unnecessary pain to any Pokemon. You are his Pokemon now, and my Ash always will take good care of you"._

Shinx just nodded at having his suspicions confirmed. Then he looked expectantly at Ash, wondering what his life from now on would be like.

Ash gave Shinx some time to adjust to his surroundings.

"Hello! Let me introduce myself first. My name is Ash Ketchum. This is vulpix" Ash said gesturing towards vulpix. "Vulpix was my starter Pokemon. I raised her from her egg, so you can also say that she is like my daughter. You are the first Pokemon that I have caught. I'm sorry for all the injuries that we caused you yesterday. I want to be a Pokemon master and to do that I need a team of the best Pokemon. You are a very powerful Pokemon. I hope you will give me a chance to prove that I'm worthy to be your trainer."

Shinx looked somewhat bewildered. He had been expecting to be ordered around, not asked to give a chance to the human to prove himself.

" _Will I get food?" he asked the witch-fox after a moment._

" _As much as you want" vulpix replied. "If you are good, you can also get your favourite berries"._

Despite the human looking so sincere and asking his permission, Shinx knew that he wasn't going back to the wilderness. It would be better to get the best out of the situation. Looking to the human, he nodded.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"That's great. Welcome to the family, Shinx! You just wait, we are going to be the best of friends. I'm going to help you become the most powerful Luxray in the world" Ash enthusiastically said.

Now that was something Shinx could get behind. If this human, Ash, could help him become a powerful Luxray, then he could give him his support.

"Shinx! Shinx!" Shinx said excitedly.

Ash took out the pokedex his dad had given him and aimed it at Shinx.

"This is a pokedex. Please sit still for a moment. It will tell me about you" Ash said.

" **Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. When it senses danger, the hairs on its body light up and it runs away, leaving its opponent dazed. This Shinx is male and has the ability intimidate. It knows the moves thunder shock, tackle, charge, spark, bite, quick attack, and thunder fang. It has thunder fang and night slash as egg moves."**

"Wow! You are really strong" Ash said. Shinx must have gotten night slash from Persian and thunder fang from his mother Luxray as egg moves.

"I'm going to test you today. We will see the mastery you have over your moves, you speed, strength, and accuracy. We will also check your stamina. After I have a proper analysis of your abilities, we will design a proper training schedule for you. How does that sound?" Ash asked.

"Shinx!" Shinx nodded. Vulpix just laughed and ran back towards the house before Shinx could ask her the reason.

That night, ash once again sat with his dad. Shinx had exhausted himself performing different attacks and exercises all day, and was now soundly sleeping in ash's room after a healthy dinner, which consisted of Miltank meat. According to his dad, the Luxray were predators, who usually hunted other Pokemon for food. Generations of hunting Pokemon had evolved them to become one of the best hunters in the Pokemon world. They had developed electric attacks sometime in the past to paralyze their targets so that they couldn't run. As a result, Luxray was not a very fast Pokemon, but their attack was one of the best in the world. You would be hard pressed to find a Pokemon with higher attack stat in the Pokemon world. It was not like they were slow Pokemon, a healthy male Luxray could run faster than human eyes could follow, but they couldn't run very far very fast, they were sprinters, they could run very fast for a small distance, but increase the distance and they would give up.

"What do you think of your new Pokemon?" his dad asked.

"He is very powerful for such a small guy. He has a good grasp of all the attacks that he know. Though his speed and stamina leaves a lot to be desired. I was thinking of focusing on his physical development till he evolves. He will have a lot more power, and control over his electricity once he evolves. I can focus on teaching him new attacks after that. This way he can get to know me and vulpix better before we start them on any advance training."

"That is a fine plan. Have you thought any long term plans regarding him?"

"Since he is already quite powerful, I was thinking of having him develop his speed and defence next" ash said.

"It's good that you are already thinking of developing all his skills. But I would suggest you focus on only one of them. Either help him increase his speed or his defensive abilities. And instead focus on his attack more. Luxray line is known for their high attack power. You know what, focus entirely on its speed and attack for now. Luxray wants to be as powerful as they can. They are predators, don't try to supress his instincts, and instead work with them. He will like you a lot more if you do that"

"But won't his defence suffer that way?" ash asked.

"Teach him a few defensive moves after he evolves. He is never going to be a defensive Pokemon, his base defence is too poor for that. Instead make sure that any battle he participates in is over before the opponent can even get a chance to attack."

And that's what ash did for the next 3 weeks. He concentrated fully on helping Shinx develop his stamina and speed, and had him work on exercises to increase his attack power. He also worked with Shinx to improve the attacks he already knew. And the result was showing. At the end of third week, his thunder shock looked more like a thunderbolt. During this time vulpix worked on mastering the newly learned flamethrower attack. Even though she couldn't hold the flames for a long time, her flames were really hot.

Ash also spent some time with Shinx everyday just to talk and play. Vulpix was also included in these sessions. It was done by ash with the intention of getting to know Shinx better and to improve his bond with his Pokemon. The thing that ash had noticed about Shinx was that he liked to do only two things, train and eat. Whenever he wasn't training, he was eating. At the end of third week, Shinx finally evolved, in a way that none had seen coming. When he was having dinner after a full day of training, he was eating like a starved person. After having 2 full plates of pokefood mixed with some berries, it became apparent that his stomach was full, but his heart wasn't. He still wanted to eat more but there wasn't enough space in his stomach. He continued to eat and just when it seemed like he was going to burst, he literally burst in a white light and his body started evolving. When the light finally died, all were treated to the sight of a Luxio sitting in the dining room, trying his best to eat the plate containing his food.

Luxio was a feline, quadruped Pokémon resembling a young lynx or lion. Blue and black fur covered most of its body. Its ears, face, hind paws, and front half of its body were blue, while its hindquarters were black. Additionally, Luxio had a tufty black mane surrounding its face. The mane was longer on the Luxio because of him being a male, while the fur on the hind paws extended to ankles on the female. The insides of its rounded ears were yellow, as were its eyes. There were two yellow rings around each front leg and a yellow, four-point star on the tip of its tail.

The next day, ash's dad took him to the city to get his newly evolved Luxio checked out at the Pokemon centre. Although there didn't seem to be a problem after the evolution, it was considered important to get every newly evolved Pokemon checked out by the nurse Joy at the Pokemon centre to make sure the Pokemon was okay.

Pokemon Centre was one of the most important institution in the Pokemon world. It was a type of building that provided regulatory services for Pokémon Trainers. Pokémon Centres were found in most towns and cities of the Pokémon world; every major city or town held a Pokémon Centre. Some Pokémon Centres could be found outside of towns next to large forests or caves. Pokémon Centres were built where many Trainers gathered and the area became popular. This was to accommodate those Trainers in need and served as a resting spot. The most common service the Pokémon Centre offered was healing Pokémon free of charge. Pokemon centres also acted like hotels for trainers, providing them with rooms to rest, and offering them food at a very large discount. All Pokemon centres were headed by a nurse from the Nurse Joy clan.

The Pokemon centre that his dad dropped him in front of was a very different building from what he was used to see. For one it was easily 4 stories tall, whereas the one in the viridian city had only 2 floors. It was a very modern looking building with which appeared to be made of steel and glass and had giant P on the top. The Pokemon centre in viridian city was made of bricks and cement.

"Stay in the Pokemon centre, don't wander around. I will be back in a few hours to collect you. Make sure to tell the nurse joy that Luxio belongs to me and show her the pokedex I gave you if she asks for proof." His dad instructed him from inside the car. His dad had some business to take care of, so he was not going to come with him.

"Yes dad. I remember your instructions." Ash replied. "You can go now, I will see you later".

"Bye" his dad said and drove out.

"Come on vulpix, let's go get Luxio checked" ash said to vulpix who was standing by his feet and looking every this way and that way. Vulpix yipped and followed him inside.

The doors were automatic and opened up as soon as ash reached them. Ash looked in amazed wonder as he entered inside the Pokemon centre. To one side was the cafeteria where a lot of trainers were having snacks along with their pokemon, most of which ash had never seen before. To the front was the reception area where a few trainers were standing in line, most probably to get their pokemon healed by the nurse Joy. To the other side of the cafeteria, there were a couple of seats for trainers and visitors to sit and relax. Some trainers were sitting there as well. Ash went and joined the queue for the nurse Joy. There were a lot of stares thrown around his way as he joined the queue, most of them directed towards vulpix, who seemed to soak up all the attention. Most of them were probably wondering what sort of Pokemon she was, a couple were even aiming their pokedex at her, while others who knew about her species were most probably wondering how in Arceus' name was she so big. Thankfully, none of them approached him. It didn't take long for ash's turn to come.

"Good morning! What can I do for you?" nurse Joy asked, smiling at ash.

"My… umm… I mean my dad's Shinx evolved last night. I was wondering if you could give him a check-over?" ash asked her, suddenly feeling slightly nervous.

"Oh! I can definitely do that. But I need to see your id first. I have to make certain that it is your dad's Pokemon. I hope you don't mind" nurse joy said.

"No, it's no problem. My dad assumed that you may ask it, so he gave me his pokedex. Here it is" ash said giving nurse joy his dad's pokedex.

Nurse joy attached the pokedex to her computer through a cable and scanned it. Apparently finding what she was looking for, she handed the pokedex back to him.

"Thank you Mr. Ketchum. You can submit your Pokemon for check up here. It may take some time. You can wait in the cafeteria in the meantime. I will call you once the check-up is done."

Ash nodded at that. He handed the pokeball containing Luxio to the nurse Joy and headed towards the cafeteria to see if there was anything he might be interested in. there were a lot of things available in the cafeteria and ash wasn't certain what to choose. In the end, vulpix decided to choose for him. She took him towards an ice cream stall and then proceeded to give him her best puppy dog eyes. Ash just scratched her behind the ears and bought two ice creams for them. He then found a couple of empty seats for them and sat there, while waiting for the nurse Joy to announce his name.

Just as he finished his ice-cream, and was wondering on what to do, he was approached by someone.

"Excuse me" someone said standing behind him.

Ash looked behind him to see a kid his age standing there. He had med-length purple hair and wore a purple jacket with navy blue sleeves, a blue undershirt, dark purple pants, and purple and navy sneakers with white soles.

"Yes?" ash asked, wondering who he might be. Vulpix, who had finally finished her own ice-cream was also looking at the stranger quizzically.

"My name is Paul. I think I have seen you somewhere before" the now identified Paul said.

"Umm, I don't know. I don't remember meeting you before" ash replied.

"Are you one of the 10 kids who were give their starter Pokemon early?" Paul asked.

"yes." Ash said. "My name is Ash Ketchum. And this is my partner Vulpix".

"Vulpix!" vulpix yipped.

"I thought so!" Paul said. "I'm one of them too. I saw you at the professor Oak's lab 2 years ago. You were the one with Professor Oak's grandchild. Hello Vulpix". Paul greeted vulpix with a nod.

"Wow! I never thought I would meet anyone other than Gary from our little group before we began our journey. It's so cool. Gary is going to be so jealous when I'll tell him." ash said excitedly.

Paul just looked at him weirdly.

"So, what kind of Pokemon is Vulpix?" Paul asked.

"She is an awesome fire-type Pokemon. She is from the Kanto region. They are very rare in the wild. And she is really powerful too" ash boasted.

Looking at the puffed up Pokemon, Paul could see that yes, she was indeed powerful. Just by being so close to her, Paul could feel heat emanating from her, and there wasn't even any fire visible on her body. Her fur was also shiny clean, which meant that ash took good care of her.

"Who is your starter Pokemon?" ash asked.

"My starter was a Turtwig" Paul said. Seeing ash's confused expression, Paul elaborated, "Turtwig is one of the starters given here in Sinnoh. He is a grass type Pokemon. He evolved last week into Grotle. I brought him here to have a check-up. What are you doing here in sinnoh?"

"Man, what an amazing coincidence. I'm here on a vacation with my dad. Last night my dad's Shinx evolved into a Luxio. I'm here to get him checked as well."

Just then there was an announcement.

"PAUL! YOUR POKEMON IS READY. PLEASE REPORT TO TE FRONT DESK" a voice announced on the loudspeaker.

"Well, that's for me. It was nice to meet you." Paul said.

"Yeah! It was good to meet you as well. Let's battle the next time we meet." Ash said to the retreating form of Paul.

"Sure", Paul replied.

With that, Paul left.

Ash had to wait for another 2 hours there in the cafeteria before his name was announced on the speaker.

"Here you go Mr. Ketchum. Your Luxio is fine. A little overweight if I say so myself, but he is all muscle as far as I can tell, so there is no need to worry. Just make sure he keeps on exercising daily" Nurse Joy said giving ash the pokeball containing Luxio.

"Thank you Nurse Joy" ash said.

After that ash had to wait for another half an hour before his dad came to pick him up. The ride back to the home was mostly spent in silence.

After returning back, his dad told him to get some rest and then pack his things. According to him, some business had come up back at home, and they had to leave a week before their scheduled departure date. They left for Kanto that very night and reached home by the next morning. Since they were tired from the long journey, ash was given the day off from training. Vulpix and Luxio spent most of the day exploring the grounds behind the viridian gym. Vulpix introduced Luxio to all her friends and showed him around the gym and the grounds.

Giovanni was seating on a chair behind a desk in his office when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" he said.

The door opened and a middle aged man wearing a suit and a cap entered.

"A new disguise?" Giovanni asked scratching behind Persian's ear who was sitting by his side.

"Yes sir!" the man said. "How were your vacations?"

"Surprisingly good. I got to spend a lot of time with ash. We talked a lot and not just about Pokemon. There is something special in that boy. Mark my words Proton, Ash is going to be on the top of the world one day" Giovanni said to the now identified Proton, showing his pride in his son.

"That's good to hear sir. What about the business deal? I hope it was successful." Proton enquired, wanting to get to the real reason for which he was here.

"It went well. Get the Pokemon in the warehouse 5 ready to transport, they will be leaving soon" Giovanni instructed.

"That's good to hear. But sir we are still a few Pokemon short, warehouse 5 is still not full" Proton said.

"How many?" Giovanni asked, rubbing his forehead.

"A few Koffing and some Magnemite."

"Get them as soon as you can" Giovanni said after a moment's thought. "And do try to avoid route 10 this time. We don't want to lose another team".

Proton chuckled at that. He remembered the last time he had been on route 10, he had lost an entire team and he himself had been lucky to escape alive.

"Of course sir. I will be careful this time" proton said.

"Good. You can go" Giovanni said.

Proton gave him a node and left.

Giovanni looked out the window to see ash sitting on the ground under tree with his vulpix and Luxio by his side. He wondered if he should introduce ash to the harsher realities of the world. But after a moment he discarded the thought. He had plans for ash, big plans.

 **Thank you, each and every one of you who took time to read this story and a special thanks to all those who even left a review. I will take into consideration your views, but ultimately the story is going to go my own way. I hope you guys will like it.**

 **Luxray is one of my all-time favourite Pokemon. No one guessed it right.**

 **Ash will get another Pokemon in the next chapter, the last before he starts his journey. Let's see if anyone can guess it right this time (hint: it will be flying type).**

 **rockingchampif – thanks for such a long and honest review. Yes, I have something special planned for vulpix, once she evolves into a ninetales that is. You got the ash and his mom connection right, but I was always going to have him connected to both his mom and dad. Though there is no doubt that he loves his mom more than his dad (hehe). I'm trying to show the years before ash can finally start his journey but I also don't want to go into too deep right now. Once he starts his journey, both ash and his Pokemon will get way longer time in the chapters and their training will be shown as well. Yes, Giovanni is still the leader of team rocket (there is a team rocket), but my team rocket is going to be a lot different from the one shown in the anime or the games. I will not spoil the surprise here.**

 **.71619 – thank you for the review. I hope you are not much disappointed with the Pokemon ash got in sinnoh. I have another Pokemon in mind for a water type.**

 **DRADX- ash's mother was not a good trainer because only her starter, a vulpix, which later evolved into a ninetales was an elite level Pokemon and that too a lower level one. This was despite spending a decade being a Pokemon trainer.**

 **Different Pokemon levels (just a starting estimate, more will be revealed later):**

 **Normal trainers – low level, high level, skilled trainer**

 **Gym leaders – low tier, high tier, advanced tier**

 **Elite four – lower level, higher level, advanced level (a single Pokemon type master)**

 **Champion**

 **Pokemon Master**

 **Please read and review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

 **A/n: thanks for all the love guys. Hope you guys like the full chapter. I don't know when the next update will be. So, a very merry Christmas and happy New Year in advance. Don't forget to like and review. Cheers.**

 **Chapter – 3**

 **The Growth**

The first time ash left luxio behind in viridian, he realized something about himself. He didn't like it when his pokemon were separated from him. It made him really upset. Thankfully, vulpix was with him the entire time, so he got over his bad mood soon but a part of him still longed to have luxio with him. It made him realize that even if luxio had been with him for only a month, he had already become an important part of his ever growing family. He didn't want to leave luxio behind, but he couldn't take him home either. Technically, he was in violations of the league rules by having a second pokemon, and he didn't want the league to take him away if they came to know about him. So, with a heavy heart, ash had explained the reasons to luxio, and said his goodbye. Surprisingly enough, luxio had not been happy at first to be left behind, but had agreed in the end. Ash's dad had told him not to worry about his training, as he would train luxio himself when he was away.

Ash didn't even realize when a whole year passed by. Now, at 13, puberty had started to show its effect on him. He was already 5'3 and still growing. He had passed his secondary education exam and was now free to do anything he wanted.

Now, standing in front of the mighty nidoqueen of his father, he remembered all that had happened in the last 12 months. He had lost 4 out of 6 matches against Gary. Gary's wartortle had also evolved into a very big and powerful blastoise some months ago. He had lost every time he had challenged nidoqueen. But all that was in the past. Because today was the day that he was finally going to beat his dad and get that fire stone to evolve vulpix. He had spent the last two months devising a strategy to defeat nidoqueen and he was finally ready to implement it.

"This is it vulpix! Today is the day we have been waiting for so long. We are going to defeat nidoqueen today" ash said to his ever faithful starter pokemon who was standing in front of him in the field. On the other side of the field stood his father with his nidoqueen standing proudly in front of him.

"You can start anytime you want" his dad said from the other side.

"Vulpix! Let's start it with an old fashioned ember" ash said.

Vulpix immediately followed his command and started shooting a literal stream of small fireballs from her mouth. Nidoqueen never one to let such a weak attack harm her responded in kind with a poison needle. The two attacks collided in mid-air and exploded.

"Let's kick it up a notch. Vulpix, flamethrower!" ash shouted.

Vulpix sucked a large amount of air before she opened her mouth and a very large continuous stream of orange fire exploded out of her mouth heading straight for nidoqueen.

"Ice beam" his father ordered his nidoqueen, knowing the dangers of letting that attack hit nidoqueen. Nidoqueen gathered a white energy in her mouth before shooting a white cold beam of energy towards vulpix. Both the attacks collided in mid-air once again creating steam from the rapidly evaporating ice and struggled against each other for dominance. Ash knew vulpix would never win against nidoqueen in a direct contest of strength.

"Stop and quick attack immediately to the left" ash shouted. Vulpix immediately followed his command, stopping the continuous flow of fire from her mouth and running to her left in white streak of energy as not even a second later, a white beam of energy shot at the place she was standing on.

"Dark pulse" ash shouted.

Vulpix immediately gathered a dark purple energy in her mouth and fired a beam of the collected energy at nidoqueen in the form of a continuous stream of dark purple rings.

Nidoqueen, who was just recovering from using ice beam was caught unaware and the dark pulse hit directly on mark.

"NIDOOO!" nidoqueen shouted in pain from the attack and was sent skidding backward.

"will-o-wisp before she recovers" ash shouted.

Vulpix immediately shot a ghostly orb of fire from her mouth towards nidoqueen however she had already recovered.

"Shadow ball" his dad said.

Nidoqueen immediately formed an orb of the ghostly energy and fired it before the will-o-wisp could reach her. The two attacks collided head on and created a large explosion resulting in a lot of smoke.

"Double team" ash shouted intent on taking advantage of the smokescreen.

By the time the smoke cleared from the field, there were at least 20 copies of vulpix all around nidoqueen.

"Earthquake nidoqueen! Let's finish this battle" his dad ordered his nidoqueen.

Ash knew that he could not let the attack hit vulpix, because one clean hit was all nidoqueen needed to injure vulpix and make her slow, robbing her of her most powerful weapon, so he already had a plan.

"Run towards nidoqueen" ash shouted and all the copies of vulpix started running towards nidoqueen who had jumped into air and was now coming back towards the ground like an angry comet intent on destroying the field. Just as nidoqueen was about to touch the ground, ash shouted, "jump and iron tail".

The result was devastating. The moment nidoqueen touched the ground, a shockwave of energy traveled in all directions in the ground from her and the whole field shook. The ground broke at multiple places, some pieces of earth shot up from the earth whereas at some places, the earth seemed to vanish. It was total destruction. However, none of it mattered to ash as the moment nidoqueen had touched the ground, all the copies of vulpix had jumped up in the air, saving her body from the shockwaves, her tails had glowed a metallic grey color and then all the copies of her slammed the iron tail into nidoqueen head.

"NIDO" nidoqueen cried out in pain as she was literally slammed into the ground.

Ash knew that nidoqueen was not going to stay on the ground forever and she was going to be really angry now. So he pressed forward his advantage.

"Flamethrower! Full power" ash shouted. Vulpix immediately sucked in a large breath of air before she opened her mouth and a very large continuous stream of orange fire exploded out of her mouth and hit nidoqueen straight on her back.

"Iron tail! Stand up" his dad shouted. Nidoqueen continued to scream in pain from the large flames attacking her back for a moment before suddenly a glowing tail came out of the fire too fast for vulpix to dodge. The iron tail hit her straight and threw her like a piece of pebble 20 feet away.

"VULPIX!" ash shouted in concern.

Vulpix screamed in pain for a moment before standing back on her feet. The time it took vulpix to stand back on her feet was enough for nidoqueen to get back her bearings and now she was glaring murder at the small fox pokemon. But she was visibly panting now. The continuous attacks had really done a number on her but ash knew from experience that nidoqueen still had a lot of fight in her.

"Sludge bomb" his dad ordered.

"Flame burst" ash ordered.

A large number of flame bullets surged forward, with a powerful bombardment of thick gooey sludge flying to meet it head on. Both attacks exploded on contact, once again kicking up a lot of smoke and dirt from the ground.

"Double team" ash shouted. Vulpix complied and immediately one vulpix became 20.

"Sludge bomb, back to back, coat the whole field into poison" his dad ordered. Nidoqueen immediately started shooting the thick gooey sludge attack at all the copied of vulpix. Although none of the attacks hit the nimble fox pokemon, the field was quickly being covered in sludge and ash knew it was only a matter of time before either vulpix was hit or she slipped in the sludge.

"Dig", ash whispered very slowly, but still loud enough so that vulpix could ear but not his dad. One by one the copies of vulpix started to get destroyed as either they were hit by a sludge attack, or they slipped in the now sludge covered field. When the last copy of vulpix was destroyed, nidoqueen turned her head towards the now remaining vulpix in the field who was visibly panting from all the running she had done.

"Mega horn, finish it" his dad ordered nidoqueen. The poison pokemon lowered her head and the large horn on her head started to glow a purple whitish color. Then the pokemon slowly but surely started running towards the small pokemon intent on slamming into her full force. However instead of ordering vulpix to dodge or attack, ash just waited for the large pokemon to come closer and closer and just as nidoqueen was about to crash into vulpix with her horn, ash shouted, "vulpix, Hypnosis, now!"

Nidoqueen crashed into vulpix with her glowing horn who vanished on contact with the horn, showing her to be another copy of vulpix from the double team attack. Nidoqueen lost her balance from a lack of resistance and crashed into the ground. At the same time, the ground from behind her exploded upwards, showing vulpix coming out of it with a glowing multi-colored ball of energy in front of her mouth which she immediately fired at nidoqueen. Nidoqueen didn't even have time to look surprised before the ball exploded on the back of her head. The result was instantaneous. Nidoqueen started to feel dizzy, her eyes closed, she took a large yawn, and crashed forward once again on the ground, apparently asleep this time from the attack.

"Nidoqueen! Get back up!" his dad shouted from the other side of the field but there was no response from nidoqueen other than a snore.

"Vulpix, we won't get another chance like this. Listen carefully, use will-o-wisp, full power. And as soon as nidoqueen wakes up from the burn, dark pulse directly in her face" ash ordered, knowing that it was his one and only chance of winning this match.

Vulpix immediately shot a ghostly orb of fire from her mouth towards nidoqueen and it hit her head on. There was an immediate response from nidoqueen who immediately woke up from being burnt. However before she could understand what was happening, vulpix had gathered a dark purple energy in her mouth and fired a beam of the collected energy at nidoqueen in the form of a continuous stream of dark black-purple rings. Nidoqueen roared in pain and flinched from the sudden attack.

"Now hex" ash shouted immediately seeing his opportunity. Vulpix opened her mouth and a black colored energy shot from her towards nidoqueen. Before nidoqueen could recover from the pain of dark pulse, and the burn, the hex crashed into her like a rhyhorn. The whole field shook from the pain filled screams of nidoqueen.

Ash closed his eyes because he couldn't watch nidoqueen like that. He knew it was necessary but he didn't have to like it. He knew he still had a job to finish though, so he opened his eyes and hopefully ordered the last attack of the match.

"Quick tail, on the head. Finish it" vulpix nodded and immediately shot towards nidoqueen in a white streak of energy. Quick tail was a combination of quick attack and iron tail. The added momentum of quick attack increased the power of iron tail at least twice. Her tails briefly glowed before she smacked them on nidoqueen's head who immediately crashed into the very painfully. Nidoqueen didn't get up after that. There was a pin drop silence on the field for a moment before a red beam of energy shot up towards nidoqueen and sucked her back in to a pokeball.

"Nidoqueen cannot battle any longer. Vulpix is the winner" the referee, a worker at his dad's gym suddenly said.

For a moment ash didn't understand what had happened, before suddenly his mouth stretched into the biggest grin possible and he jumped into the air.

"YEAH! Yoo-hoo, I won!" he shouted and sprinted on the field towards vulpix. Vulpix ran back towards him before jumping in his arms. Her weight sent ash crashing into the ground but he did not mind. He was too happy to mind anything right now.

"We won vulpix! We won" ash shouted again to his pokemon, who yipped in reply and started to lick his face. They continued to lie on the ground for a moment, content to enjoy the result of all their hard work. However they had to stand up when his dad came near him.

"That was a very well executed strategy! I must say I'm impressed" his dad said, and ash couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"Thanks dad! It took me a while to finally come up with this strategy but it paid off in the end" ash said. "And I couldn't have done this without vulpix"

"Vulpix" vulpix yipped happily from her place on the ground by ash's side.

"I didn't know that vulpix knew either hypnosis or dig" his dad commented looking towards vulpix.

"Yeah! I taught them to her last time I was in pallet town. I had to ask Gary to buy their TM for me since he was going to buy a couple himself. It cost me almost all of my saved pocket money but it was worth it in the end" ash said with a shrug.

"Very well. I need to go to the pokemon center to make sure nidoqueen is ok. You can go and take some rest. We will talk in the evening" his dad said to him before leaving.

Ash looked towards the stands where luxio was sitting on a bench, having watched the whole match with interest. Ash called him to come down and they all went back to his room to get some rest.

It was at night during dinner that ash saw his dad again. Ash had treated both his pokemon to their favorite foods and they both had gone to sleep in his room after eating as much as they could. Now, it was only ash, his dad, Persian, and his dad's ever present butler, Mark, who was standing there to make sure they had everything they wanted.

"Is nidoqueen all right?" ash asked, still feeling a little bad for having injured the pokemon.

"She is fine. She will need to spend the night at pokemon center but she will be back to perfect health in the morning" his dad replied. Ash breathed a little easier knowing that nidoqueen was going to be fine.

"So, I hope you know what this means" ash said excitedly.

"Oh? And what's that?" his dad asked.

"Dad! You promised that you will give me a fire stone to evolve vulpix after I beat nidoqueen" ash said with a grin.

"I haven't forgotten. I have already ordered it. It should be here within the week" his dad replied.

Ash almost jumped in joy at hearing the news but he somehow contained his excitement knowing that his dad probably would not like his jumping at the dining table.

"In the meantime, I want you to teach this move to vulpix" his dad said sliding a TM towards him.

"What's this?" ash asked taking the TM.

"It is a fire type move, inferno" his dad replied, making ash's eyes widen knowing how expensive it must have been. Inferno was a very powerful fire type move that always left a burn on its target. It was also way more powerful than a simple flamethrower. From what ash knew, vulpix could learn this move only before evolution. He didn't know how or why but some pokemon could learn some moves only before evolution. He had wanted to teach the move to vulpix but he didn't have any money to buy the TM for inferno, having already spent all his savings on buying the TM for dig and hypnosis.

"Thanks a lot dad! I appreciate this" ash thanked his dad sincerely who nodded in reply.

"So tell me, what lessons have you learnt so far in your journey to defeat nidoqueen" his dad asked seriously. Ash immediately recognized the tone, it was the tone his dad used when he was going to teach ash some very serious things about pokemon training or the world in general.

Ash thought about it for a minute before replying. "That with proper training and a good strategy, you can defeat anyone".

"Good. I'm glad that you reached that conclusion on your own" his dad said. "See ash, the thing is that when most trainers start their journey, they try to make their pokemon as powerful as possible and as fast as they can. They teach them powerful moves and try to evolve them as soon as possible. They think that the more powerful a pokemon is, the more chances they have of winning. And it works for them for some time because most of the time they are challenging the trainers that are similar to them and at the same level, or the wild pokemon who doesn't know have a trainer to guide them. Even the first few gyms that they challenge, they mostly win because of the simple fact that gym leaders are not allowed to use any member of their real team against anyone having less than 4 badges. But there is a reason that there are so few trainers who participate in the league tournament in the end. The problem is that they focus so much on power that they forget there is any such thing as strategy. They just blindly challenge anybody believing the power of their pokemon would allow them to win. The moment they match anyone who is just as powerful as them and knows how to use their pokemon properly, they become defenseless. They don't know what to do. It takes a lot of time for them to realize what they are doing wrong and sometimes, they never do."

"So that's why you wanted me to defeat nidoqueen before evolving vulpix." Ash said with sudden realization. "You knew that once vulpix evolved into a ninetales, she would have the power to defeat nidoqueen. You wanted me to be able to defeat her without that kind of power, so that I could learn how to defeat a superior opponent with a good strategy and prior planning."

"Correct. And I'm glad to know that you have learned your lesson."

Ash spent the next week teaching vulpix inferno. The TM gave her a basic idea of how to perform the move and it was only a matter of practice after that. A full week after the day vulpix had defeated nidoqueen, ash finally received the fire stone. It was unlike any other stone ash had seen. It was reddish-brown in color and very warm to touch.

Ash, vulpix, luxio, and his dad, all had gathered in the backyard of the gym. Ash placed the stone on the ground and looked towards vulpix who was looking at the stone in awe like it was some sort of deity.

"Vulpix, its time. Just go and touch the stone" ash said and motioned for luxio to stand back. Vulpix didn't even seem to hear his voice. She just walked towards the stone as if in a trance. The moment she touched the stone with her front paw, a white light started to shine from the stone, which after a moment engulfed vulpix as well. A moment later it became too bright for normal eyes to watch and ash had to close his eyes lest they be damaged by the light.

After a minute, when ash was sure that the light had died down, he slowly opened his eyes and the sight in front of him took his breath away, for in front of him was not a vulpix that he had hatched from an egg and raised for the past 3 years, but a majestic looking ninetales.

Ninetales was a foxlike Pokémon that possessed nine tails, hence its name. The nine-tailed kitsune fox was mainly covered in sleek, luxurious golden-white fur, while the tips of her nine tails were orange. On top of her head was a large tuft of hair, similar to its pre-evolved form though much more unruly and spiky. It had sinister red eyes and pointed ears. It had slender legs with three-toed paws and no visible claws. While a normal ninetales was usually 3 feet tall in height, the ninetales standing proudly in front of ash was easily reaching 4 feet.

Ash slowly moved forward while the newly evolved pokemon watched him with her red eyes. He moved his hand forward for ninetales to see. The fox pokemon gently lowered her head into his hand. Seeing that ninetales was comfortable with him touching her, he went forward and stared to scratch her behind her ears.

"Congratulations ninetales! You look absolutely amazing" ash said in an awed voice.

"Nine" ninetales cooed back, very happy to hear the compliment.

"Lux, luxio!" luxio, who had also come forward, congratulated her in his own way.

"Ninetales" ninetales replied back to the lion pokemon.

"I think you should take her to the pokemon center. Get her checked out and make sure there aren't any problems" his dad said.

"Yeah, I will do that" ash replied never taking his eyes of her. "Come on ninetales, let's go to the pokemon center. You can stretch your legs a little, try to adjust to your new body. Would you like to come too luxio?"

"Luxio" luxio nodded.

"Very well then. Come on, both of you" ash said and started walking towards the pokemon center. The pokemon center was hardly a 10 minute walk away from the gym. A lot of people stopped what they were doing to stare the unfamiliar pokemon by his side. Most of the people of the town knew him. Not to sound arrogant like Gary, but he was the son of the gym leader of their city, so almost everyone in the city knew about him and his pokemon. It did not take people long to recognize the pokemon walking by his side, and they couldn't keep the awe from their faces. Ninetales were rare pokemon, like super rare. Most people spent their entire life without seeing one. So watching one walking in their city was probably a lifetime experience for them. Ninetales didn't seem to mind the attention. In fact, she seemed to soak it up and walked even more proudly if that was possible.

Soon they reached the pokemon center. There weren't many trainers in the pokemon center, hardly 3 or 4, and all of them stopped whatever they were doing to stare at him. Their gazes lingered on ninetales for a moment before they all went back to whatever they were doing. 'Must be experienced trainers', ash thought.

Ash went directly to the counter which was manned by chansey instead of nurse joy.

Chansey was a pink, ovoid Pokémon. There were three hair-like growths on the sides of its head, tipped with a darker shade of pink. On the center of its belly was a dark pink pouch that contains a single white egg. Its arms were stubby, and it had small, dark pink feet. Additionally, it had a short tail. It was a female-only species with no male counterpart.

Chansey were the perfect pokemon for nurse joy to have in the pokemon center because it lays several nutritious eggs every day, which it carefully carried in its pouch. A kindhearted Pokémon, it would share these eggs with injured people and Pokémon. The eggs become more delicious if Chansey was raised with love and care. Chansey were extremely rare in the wild, and were said to bring good luck and happiness to those who managed to catch it.

"Hey chansey! How are you?" ash greeted the kind hearted pokemon.

"Chansey chan" chansey replied joyfully in greeting. "Chansey?" chansey waved towards ninetales.

"Well, you remember vulpix right?" ash asked. Chansey nodded. "She evolved into ninetales just today. Actually that's why we came here. I wanted nurse joy to give her a checkup. Can you call her here?"

"Chansey" chansey nodded joyfully and went back into a room, probably to call the nurse joy.

Just a minute later, nurse joy came out of the room followed by chansey.

"Hello ash!" nurse joy greeted him with a wave. "Oh my! Who is this beautiful pokemon you have with you?"

"Ninetales" ninetales puffed her chest at hearing the compliment. Ash just chuckled at that

"Hey nurse joy. This is vulpix, well she was vulpix, but she just evolved and I wanted you to give her a checkup to make sure nothing is wrong" ash said.

"Very well. You just wait here and we will get back to you in no time" nurse joy said and motioned for ninetales to follow her.

Once they disappeared behind the door, ash turned his attention to luxio who was lazily laying by his feet. "So, what do you say luxio, you want anything to eat?"

Before ash could even blink, luxio was already running towards the cafeteria, leaving ash to follow behind him. "Hey, wait for me"

Half an hour later ash's name was announced on the loudspeaker. Hearing his name, ash looked towards luxio, who was dozing off near his feet. Having eaten to his heart's content, the luxio had fell asleep immediately. Seeing this and not wanting to disturb his sleep, ash recalled him back to his pokeball before going back to the counter where ninetales was waiting for him.

"Is everything ok?" ash asked seeing ninetales being scratched behind her ears by nurse joy. Hearing his voice, she stood up and moved to stand behind ash. She rubbed her head in ash's chest once before ash scratched her behind her ears smilingly.

"Yes. She is absolutely fine. There was no problem in her evolution" nurse joy said. "Though she is the biggest ninetales I've ever seen and she is only going to grow even bigger. The average height for a ninetales after evolution is 3'07" whereas your ninetales is 4'02" and weighs 30 kg. Although there are records of ninetales reaching the height of 5 feet but your ninetales may become the largest of her species one day if you continue to take good care of her"

"I'm glad to hear it. We can thank her superior genetics for her incredible size. She is the daughter of professor Oak's arcanine" ash explained to the nurse joy.

"Oh, I see. Yes, I can see why she is so big now. That arcanine is a monster. I don't think even the police department has an arcanine that size." Nurse joy said laughingly. "Have you scanned her yet?"

"No, I haven't"

"Well, go then. I think you may be surprised"

Ash immediately took out the pokedex his dad had given him and aimed it at ninetales.

 **"Ninetales, the Fox Pokémon. The evolved form of Vulpix. It has nine tails and a shining golden fleece. Each of its tails contains a different mystical power. Ninetales casts a sinister light from its bright red eyes to gain total control over its foe's mind. This Pokémon is said to live for a thousand years. Very smart and very vengeful. Grabbing one of its many tails could result in a 1,000-year curse. This ninetales is female and has the ability flash fire. This ninetales has also unlocked the hidden ability drought. It knows the moves tackle, quick attack, flame burst, hex, fire spin, will-o-wisp, hypnosis, bite, fire fang, iron tail, flamethrower, dark pulse, protect, double team, dig, and inferno. It has flare blitz and hex as egg moves."**

"Whoa! I didn't know ninetales had a hidden ability" ash said in an awed voice. "This is so amazing ninetales. You just became a whole lot more awesome"

"Ninetales, nine!" ninetales yipped rubbing her head into his chest.

"Some pokemon activate their hidden activity after evolution. Your ninetales is one of them" nurse joy explained.

"well, its time we went home. Thank you for your help nurse joy" ash said.

"no problem ash! Come anytime you want" nurse joy replied back with a warm smile.

Ash waved her and chansey goodbye before going back to the gym. When he told his dad about ninetales hidden ability that night, he was also happy to hear it. Ash spent the rest of the week helping ninetales adjust to her new body and helping her practice all her attacks, which were like 10 times stronger now. She could shoot a flamethrower 30 feet away now and keep it active for 1 whole minute whereas before she could only hold it for only 10-15 seconds max. Her control over her fire attacks had also improved a lot and her fire was really hot now. Ash was not sure if he was just imagining it or not but he had seen her fire change color from orange to blue a couple of time but it was always only for a moment and that too when ninetales was concentrating on producing as hot flames as possible.

The thing that had been affected the most though was her speed. As a vulpix, she was a very fast pokemon, but now she would practically disappear when she ran. Although she was still not as fast as his dad's Persian since but she was getting there. Persian actually had to try and give ninetales her full attention now in a game of tag.

Seeing how powerful ninetales had become after evolution had seemed to lit a fire under luxio who had thrown himself into training with new energy. It most certainly had something to do with how easily ninetales had defeated him in their sparring matches.

Now, it was time for him to go back to pallet town. Ash said his goodbye to his dad and his luxio, promising him that he would come back very soon and to keep up his training.

It took him the whole day to go back to pallet town on his bicycle. It was a birthday present from his mom. It was late in the evening when he finally reached home. His home looked exactly the same as last time. He parked his bicycle near the door and rang the doorbell.

"coming" ash heard his mom shout from inside the house. A moment later she opened the door.

"hi mom!" ash said almost lazily. He didn't have any time to react before he was engulfed in a hug.

"oh my ashy boy! I missed you so much" his mom exclaimed burying her face in his neck. Ash hugged her back just as tightly. He had missed her just as much. Whatever anyone may say, but ash knew that he loved his mom way more than he loved his dad. It wasn't like he didn't love his dad, he did, but he just loved his mom more.

"I missed you too mom!" ash said. "but you need to release me now, I don't think I can breathe" ash exclaimed jokingly.

His mom released him from the hug immediately. After that they both went inside where ash greeted Mr. Mime who was putting dinner on the table and his mom's ninetales was also present there.

"Well guys, I have got a surprise for you" ash said to everyone. Ash then took out the luxury ball from his belt and pressed the button for release. Immediately a red beam of energy shot out of the ball which formed into ninetales who stood proudly with her head held high and her tails waving on her back.

"Oh arceus! She evolved" his mom exclaimed. She came forward and started to pet ninetales who did not seem to mind. Ninetales seemed to soak up the attention, pressing herself against his mom. "Oh darling, you look so gorgeous."

His mom's own ninetales came forward after a moment and stood in front of her now grown up daughter. Seeing this, his mom stepped back.

Both the pokemon seemed to take a measure of each other. Seeing them together, ash could definitely see the difference in their size. His ninetales was at least 4 inches taller than his mom's ninetales. Although, the older ninetales fur was definitely more shiny and golden in color. 'Must be the age difference', ash thought. Both the nodded to each other once before both returned to their trainers' side.

Ash tried to think what the gesture may have meant. From what he knew of the vulpix and ninetales line, they were not social pokemon. Ninetales were solitary hunters, with only the children staying with their parents till they were old enough to take care of themselves. So, this gesture probably meant that his ninetales was now old enough to take care of herself.

Seeing that there was nothing else to be say or do at the moment, ash's mom ordered everyone to sit down and have dinner. That night, ash stayed awake till late in the night, chatting with his mom for the most part who he had missed a lot.

The next morning, after a healthy breakfast, ash left for professor Oak's lab, with ninetales by his side. It took him just 15 minutes to reach there. Ash opened the door to the lab, made his way directly to the professor's office. He greeted almost everyone that was working there since he knew most of them save 1 or 2 people who must have been new. Most of the people at the lab gave ninetales a few glances before going back to work. Seeing this, ninetales huffed, causing ash to smile. Reaching the professor's office, ash knocked twice on the door before there was a shout from the inside of come in.

"Professor, it is good to see you are still where I left you the last time" ash greeted his old mentor who was nose deep in his work. The professor looked up from his work upon hearing the familiar voice.

"Ash, my boy! It is good to see you have returned" the professor greeted him back with a smile before his eyes travelled to his companion and he looked like Christmas had come early. He bounced up from his seat and came forward. "It seems like congratulations are in order"

"Yeah! She evolved last week!" ash replied to the professor who had not taken his eyes off ninetales.

"My dear, would you mind if performed some tests on you?" the professor said to ninetales, who looked at him once before turning her face away with a huff. Ash chuckled at seeing this.

"Professor, I don't think ninetales is interested in tests with you right now" ash replied.

The professor looked like someone had kicked his puppy before he took out a berry from his lab coat pocket and once again turned to ninetales.

"My dear, I have just come in possession of a whole bunch of some very delicious berries and I wouldn't mind sharing them with you" the professor said. Seeing that ninetales was looking at him now, the professor continued. "Of course, you just have to let me do a couple of tests"

Ninetales seemed to think for a couple of seconds before she once again turned her head away.

The professor seemed to deflate at seeing his bribe not working. Seeing the dejected professor, ash leaned towards him and with a hand covering his mouth, he whispered in professor's ear, "Professor you need to compliment her first, only then she will agree to anything".

The professor seemed to perk up at this while ninetales gave ash a hurt look at having heard what he said. Ash tried to look innocent and looked anywhere in the office but not at ninetales.

"Where are my manners, I seemed to have forgotten to congratulate you on your evolution. You have grown into such a fine young beauty. I don't think I have ever seen such golden and soft fur on any pokemon before. Here, let me give you a congratulatory gift" the professor said and gave the berry he was holding in his hands to ninetales, who first gave it a sniff before taking a bite of the berry. She chewed it for a while before taking another bite showing that she liked the taste.

"I was wondering if a pokemon as wonderful as you would allow me to do a couple of tests on you." The professor asked again. Ninetales seemed to be considering the offer. Seeing this the professor spoke again, "of course, I will allow you to eat as much berries as you want". Ninetales finally nodded at that.

Ash could not contain his amusement at this point and finally laughed. "You have become so vain, ninetales"

Ninetales just huffed at ash and walked to stand by the professor's side.

"So, where is gary?" ash asked the professor.

"He must be by the river, he usually goes there to train blastoise" the professor said.

"Well, I will go greet him then" ash replied. Turning to ninetales, ash placed his hands behind her ears and scratched her just like she loved it. "You cooperate with the professor and once he is done, you can either go home or play with your brothers. I think they will be surprised to see you."

Ninetales licked his hands once to show that she understood.

"I will see you later professor", ash said. Taking a one last look at ninetales, ash left the lab to go to the river.

It was half an hour walk to the river. The river originated somewhere in the mountains around pallet town and flowed towards the ocean. The ocean was not actually that far from pallet town, hardly 1 hour of walk away. Ash had been to the beach a lot of times.

In no time ash reached the river and just as he had been told, Gary was also there, sitting on one side of the river with his feet dangling inside the water. Gary's Blastoise was nowhere to be seen though. Just as ash was about to move to go sit beside Gary, a huge geyser of water erupted from the previously silent river. And out came 2 behemoths of power. Ash recognized both of them. It was easy to identify one of them as Gary's blastoise.

Blastoise was a large, bipedal tortoise-like Pokémon. Its body was light blue and was mostly hidden by its tough, brown shell. This shell had a pale yellow underside and a white ridge encircling its arms and separating the upper and lower halves. Two powerful water cannons resided in the top sides of its shell. These cannons could be extended or withdrawn and could be used to assist in high-speed charges. Blastoise's head had triangular ears that were black on the inside, small brown eyes, and a cream-colored lower jaw. Its arms were thick and striated with three claws on each hand. Its feet had three claws on the front and one on the back. It had a stubby tail.

A normal blastoise was reported to be around 5'03" after evolution. Gary's blastoise was easily 6 feet long and still growing.

The blastoise landed on the ground with a large thud and didn't move for a moment. There were a lot of scars on the outer shell of blastoise, which meant that Gary was not leaving any chance to train blastoise.

It was the other pokemon that came out of the river that gave ash pause. Because it was not just any other pokemon. It was a freaking Gyarados.

Gyarados was a serpentine dragon-like Pokémon. It was mostly dark blue, with a yellow underbelly and yellow spots along its body. It had a three-pointed, dark blue crest on its head and four white, dorsal fins. It also had a lot of scars running all over its body. Its mouth was very large and gaping, bearing four canine teeth. It had one barbel on each side of its face. The barbels were white, which meant it was a female. Gyarados's tailfin was similar in structure to the crest on its head, except with a thin, white fin spread between the points.

From what ash knew, an average Gyarados was around 20 feet in length. The one ash was seeing right now was easily 30-35 feet. It was not just any pokemon. It was a monster among monsters. Just seeing it from the distance made ash weak in the knees.

"I think that will be all for now. We have been here for quite some time now." Gary, who was not aware of ash's presence, said to both the pokemon. "You can go now Gyarados. I will see you tomorrow. Thanks for the help. Here's your reward" saying that gary tossed a small dice sized brown colored cube in the air towards the big dragon who immediately took it out of the air with its strong jaws and dived back into the river.

"You take some rest as well blastoise" saying this Gary took out a pokeball from his belt before recalling blastoise into it. Tucking Blastoise's pokeball back into his belt, Gary turned around to go back home when he saw ash standing there gaping like a fish. Seeing the look on ash's face, Gary immediately guessed the reason behind it.

"Seen something interesting, ash?" Gary asked with a smirk.

"That… that was a..." ash stammered.

"A Gyarados, I know" Gary replied before walking towards ash.

"But… how?" ash asked finally turning his gaze away from the river to Gary.

"She is grandpa's" Gary said as if it explained everything. And it did.

Professor Samuel Oak, Gary's grandpa was the champion of Kanto before he became a researcher and pokemon professor. And every single one of his team member was considered a monster in their own right. Till date ash only knew about 4 members of his team: his alakazam, who was by professor's side most of the time, arcanine, who was sort of a leader of all the pokemon in the ranch, his huge charizard, which ash had seen only once but it was enough to tell ash that he did not want to be anywhere near that pokemon anytime soon, and his dragonite, who resided in the mountains east of pallet town. Apparently the mountains around pallet town were divided between professor's dragonite and charizard, with both having equal amount of territories.

Now ash knew the 5th member of the old professor's team as well.

"How come I never knew about her till now?" ash asked finally getting his bearings back and walking with Gary.

"She doesn't like people much other than a select few. Apparently, she doesn't even like my dad" Gary said while laughing. "My dad once tried to get a ride on her when he was young. She dumped him in the water and scared him really bad"

"But she seemed to like you" ash commented.

"Yes, she does. Well like I said, she only likes a few people. Me, mom, daisy, and grandpa to be exact as far as I know. She really likes daisy, even more than grandpa. So grandpa likes to keep her out of sights of people and pokemon alike so that she doesn't scare them off" gary said.

"when did you start training with her? I never knew." Ash asked.

"Just this past month actually" gary said. "Some idiots thought it would be a good idea to steal pokemon from professor Oaks pokemon ranch. They came here in a speedboat. Apparently they were planning on running away in the ocean after stealing the pokemon. Alakazam sensed them before those idiots could even set a foot on the ground of pallet town. Man that is one overpowered pokemon, let me tell you. Anyway, where was I, oh yeah, well alakazam told Gyarados that the people on the boat were hostile using her psychic powers and Gyarados made short work of them. I was relaxing on the beach with blastoise when that happened. So, after the whole thing was dealt with, I asked grandpa if I could train with Gyarados and he agreed. So, here I am".

Those must have been some really idiotic people if they thought that they could steal from professor Oak. Everyone in Kanto know that it is practically suicide to set foot in pallet town with bad intentions. There was a reason that no poacher ever tried to steal pokemon from the ranch.

"Were the idiots from Kanto?" ash asked.

"No! I think they were from Unova" Gary replied thinking. "They were some low life criminals on the run from pokemon rangers in Unova. They thought that since no pokemon ranger was stationed to protect the ranch here, they could do their work easily. Idiots, the lot of them".

Just as ash thought. No one from kanto, or even from Johto for that matter, would try to steal from professor Oak. It was just not worth the risk.

"So what happened to them?"

"Well, one of them died in the sea itself. The idiot tried to shoot Gyarados with a gun. Gyarados took exception to the fact that someone tried to poke her with needles. Since the idiot shoot first, no one said anything. The other three were taken into custody."

Ash was not surprised to hear Gary talking about death without any emotion. They lived in a world full of monsters with reality altering and elemental powers. Death because of pokemon was one of the most common reason in their world. They had both seen a lot of people going out to the sea and never returning. So hearing that Gyarados, one of the most violent pokemon, had killed somebody was not shocking at all to ash. What was shocking was that she had let the other 3 live. Now, that was a damn miracle.

"Enough about this, tell me did the strategy work? Did you beat your dad's nidoqueen?" Gary asked excitedly.

"Yeah! It worked even better than I expected. Dad didn't know what hit him!" ash replied with just as much excitement.

"So vulpix…" Gary left the sentence hanging. But ash got the idea of what Gary wanted to ask.

"She is a ninetales now" ash said with a huge grin.

"About damn time!" Gary exclaimed. "Do you how difficult it was to hold back in our fights so that blastoise wouldn't hurt your pride?"

"No need to brag Gary. We both know that the last match was a fluke. You barely won the match" ash replied with as much heat as Gary.

"But that's what matters. I won! You lost, ashy-boy." Gary said with a smirk.

"Well, why don't you beat us now? I bet ninetales would cook that stupid turtle of yours in minutes" ash taunted Gary.

"You are so on" Gary replied. "But in all seriousness, blastoise is tired from his training right now, you will have to wait till tomorrow to get a taste of the awesomeness that is Gary and blastoise".

Ash just shook his head at Gary's antics. By this time they had reached the lab.

"I was thinking -" Gary started to say before ash interrupted him.

"Well that's a first" ash said with a grin.

"Very funny. I was thinking that maybe we shouldn't battle right now" Gary said.

"What? Too afraid that you will lose" ash taunted him.

"You wish!" Gary said. "but no, that's not the reason. I was thinking that we both know each other's battling style pretty good now. I don't want us to keep on battling like this, to prove who is better, for the rest of our lives. So I thought about it and I found a solution. We will battle each other in the finals of Indigo league. A full 6-on-6 fight. We will fight with everything we have got. And the winner will take it all. What do you say ashy boy?"

Ash thought about it for a moment. What Gary was saying was true. Whenever one of them lost, the other would improve on it and challenge the other to prove that he was better. There would be no end to their rivalry. Gary must have really given it a thought.

"well, I hope you will bring tissue papers with you, because you will definitely go back crying home after I will beat you in Indigo League finals" ash said offering his hand to gary to shake on it.

"That's the spirit ashy-boy! There is nothing bad in dreaming with your eyes open" Gary replied with a grin of his own while shaking ash's hand.

The two of them then went inside the lab where Gary inserted Blastoise's pokeball in a healing machine. After that they searched for the professor in the lab, but couldn't find him. They found him outside the lab in the backyard, asking ninetales to perform various moves that she knew. Instead of disturbing them, they both sat in the shade of a tree and just watched the professor and the pokemon.

"Gotta say ashy boy, you got one fine pokemon there" Gary said after a moment.

"Thanks. She is everything I ever dreamt of and more" ash replied.

"So, have gramps given you the new pokedex after finally evolving vulpix" Gary asked.

"What pokedex?" ash asked back.

"Well, there is no harm in me telling you this now. Gramps was just waiting for us to evolve our pokemon fully before giving us our pokedex. We are also allowed to have one more pokemon with us now" Gary said with a smirk knowing what ash's reaction was going to be.

"WHAT!" ash shouted in shock. "I could have caught a second pokemon if I had just evolved vulpix earlier. What kind of stupid rule is that?"

"Hey man! No need to shout at me. I don't make the rules" Gary said.

"Looks like the professor owes us an explanation" ash said standing up.

They both went near the professor who from the looks of it was finishing his tests with ninetales.

"Professor, I think you forgot to tell me something earlier" ash said to the professor. He patted ninetales on her head when she came near him. She gave a glare in Gary's direction before lying down near ash's feet.

"I did?" the professor asked back looking quite puzzled.

"Yes you did! You forgot to give me my pokedex and you also didn't inform me that I can carry one more pokemon from now onwards" ash almost shouted in frustration.

"Oh my! Looks like I really did forget to tell you. I must be getting old, forgetting things like that" the professor lamented to himself. "Come on inside then. Let me give you your pokedex".

"Ash recalled ninetales back in her pokeball before walking beside the professor along with Gary. Once they reached the professor's office, the professor asked them to sit on the available chairs while he went to open the safe box behind his own chair. From inside of it, the professor took out a red colored pocket size rectangular device. The professor placed the device on the table before sliding it towards ash.

"Now ash, I think you know what it is and how it works but let me tell you anyways." The professor said in a serious voice. Ash immediately sat a tad bit straighter on hearing the professor's serious voice. "This device is a pokedex. This is your id card, credit card, bank, and pokemon encyclopedia, all rolled into one device. Don't ever lose this device. This is just a prototype of the latest version that has not been released to the public. So this device has got some new features as well. It has a limited AI embedded inside it, so you can interact with it as well. This device is also linked to the internet, and through internet, back to my main computer. So, if you want to train your pokemon to their maximum potential, I would suggest that you make use of these devices. I got 2 of them especially for you boys. I have already given one to Gary. This one is yours. Make sure to scan your fingerprints before you do anything else, so it can be registered to you and only you."

Ash picked up the pokedex and looked at it in awe. This little device held more knowledge about pokemon than ash could learn in one lifetime. It was really mind-boggling.

"Thank you professor! Don't worry, I will take good care of it" ash replied slowly.

"I know my boy that you will" the professor said smilingly. "Now, onto other matters. As Gary have already told you, you can now carry two pokemon with you. The reason as to why we didn't tell you this before was that we wanted you children to develop your bonds with your chosen pokemon. We also did not want you guys to pressure your pokemon to evolve early or use any evolution stones on them before they were ready. Only when your starter pokemon had evolved fully, on their own conditions, we thought that you were ready to handle the responsibility of another pokemon."

"Well, if you say it like that, I guess I can understand" ash agreed reluctantly. He could see the logic behind the professor's reasoning.

"Have you caught your second pokemon?" ash asked Gary.

"Yup!" Gary replied.

"Well, who is it?" ash asked eagerly.

"Why don't I show you?" saying this Gary took a pokeball from his belt and tapped the release button on it. Immediately a red beam of light shoot from it and materialized in the form of a pokemon in front of them. The moment it was free from its pokeball, the pokemon shoot forward and started to lick Gary's face. Ash recognized the pokemon. How could he not when he had spent so much of his time playing with him. It was a growlithe pup, the largest from ninetales brothers.

Growlithe was a quadruped, canine Pokémon. It had orange fur with black stripes along its back and legs. The fur on its muzzle, chest, belly, and tail was cream-colored, as well as an additional tuft of fur on top of its head. Growlithe's coat was noticeably longer on its chest and tail. It had gray eyes, a black nose, and large, round ears. Its forepaws had two visible claws, while its hind paws had three toes each. Each paw had a brown pad.

This growlithe was easily 3 feet tall, already showing signs of reaching the towering height of his father one day. Once the pup had thoroughly licked Gary's face, he looked towards ash before abandoning Gary in favor of licking ash's face. Ash scratched the pup behind his ears causing him to purr pleasantly. The pup soon laid down on the ground before Gary recalled him back in his pokeball.

"I have always loved grandpa's arcanine. So I simply asked grandpa's permission to capture one for myself from the pack" Gary said.

"What happened to the rest of the pack?" ash enquired.

"I gave the rest of the pups to the Kanto police department. They will be put to good use there" the professor said.

"Well, they had to go someday I guess. I will miss them" ash said slowly. All of them were silent before they were interrupted by the sound of an explosion outside the lab.

"Not again!" the professor exclaimed.

"What is it?" ash asked, all of them standing to go out and check out the cause of the explosion.

"Come on, you will see" Gary said with a smirk.

When they got out, ash was treated to the comical site of a small eaglet pokemon standing in front of a huge arcanine in what ash supposed was a challenging stance. It was singed from head to toe, and there was a noticeable patch of the ground around it, where grass was missing and smoke was rising out of it. Ash immediately brought out his pokedex from his pocket and aimed it at the small chick pokemon.

 **"Rufflet, the Eaglet Pokémon. Rufflet's talons are powerful. Able to crack open even the toughest Berries. It often challenges stronger opponents to battle. They will challenge anything, even strong opponents, without fear. Their frequent fights help them become stronger. With its powerful legs and sturdy claws, it can crack even the hard shells of Shellder and pluck out their insides."**

Rufflet was a small avian Pokémon with a blue body. A large white plume of feathers covered its head and three tail feathers extended from its lower back. The feathery ruff extended down past its neck, covering the upper third of its body. Its face was blue with five pointed tips, resembling a mask and crown in contrast to the white feathers surrounding it. Extending from its forehead was a large feather, which was red on the lower half and white on the upper half. The split between the two colors on the feather resembled a zigzag pattern. Rufflet's beak was short and wide, with large eyes on either side. Each eye had a thick black iris with a small white pupil. Its yellow legs and feet were large in comparison to the body. Each foot had four digits: one backwards, and three forwards.

"Rufflet, that's enough!" the professor shouted at the small pokemon. But instead of standing down, Rufflet tried to glare at the professor in what was meant to be an intimidating manner but instead came up very cute.

"Man, that's one cute pokemon" ash said. The small pokemon immediately turned its glare towards ash, having heard what he said.

 **"Rufflet doesn't like it when people call it cute or harmless. They are very prideful pokemon, whose only focus in life is to become strong"** the pokedex said.

"I mean to say what an amazing pokemon you are" ash immediately corrected himself. "I mean, I haven't seen a strong pokemon like you around here before"

Rufflet seemed to glare at ash for a moment, before flying towards ash and sitting on his head, seemingly accepting his words. Ash buckled under the Pokémon's weight for a moment before steadying himself.

"Nice save ashy-boy" Gary said.

Ash just glared at him.

"Whose pokemon is he" ash asked the professor.

"You remember those idiots I was telling you about, who tried to attack the lab. Well, the league confiscated their pokemon and released the ones they deemed harmless into the wild while taking the dangerous ones with them. Some of those released pokemon decided to stay here in the ranch. Rufflet is one of them." Gary replied before the professor could speak. Rufflet squawked at being called harmless, but Gary just ignored him.

Seeing that there was no other problem, the professor bid the children farewell and went back to his work. Gary too said his goodbye to ash and went back home to get some rest which left ash alone with Rufflet. When Rufflet didn't leave him alone, ash decided to take him alongside to get some training done. When Rufflet first saw ninetales, he challenged her immediately. She, of course, beat him effortlessly. This seemed to ignite a spark in the eaglet pokemon, who from that day onwards decided to follow ash almost everywhere, and challenge ninetales to a first everytime he saw her.

The next month passed in this way. Rufflet would follow ash everywhere, and challenge ninetales to a fight before getting beaten every time. Then he would join in her training. Seeing how dedicated he was to getting stronger, and how hard working and brave he was, ash finally the professor if he could catch Rufflet. The professor agreed to let him do it on the condition that it was not against the Pokémon's wishes. Ash agreed. So, he asked Rufflet if he would like to join ash's team. The eaglet pokemon agreed on the condition that ash would help him become as strong as ninetales. That was how ash caught his 3rd pokemon. Although officially, it was his 2nd pokemon.


End file.
